^in 

11 


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ANTHONY  ASTON 

STROLLER  AND   ADVENTURER 


To   wKich   is    appended   Aston's    Brief  Supplement   to 

CoUey   Gibber's   Lives;  and  A  Sketch,  of  the 

Life    of  Anthony   Aston,   written 

by    Himself. 


By 

WATSON  NICHOLSON,  Ph.  D. 

Author   of    "The    Stru^^le   for  a     Free    Sta^e  in 
London,"  "Six  Lectures  on  American  Liter- 
ature," "Sources  o€Deioe's  Journal 
of  the  Plague  Year,"  etc.^ 


19  2  0 
Published  by  the  Author 
South   Haven,   Michigan 


Copyright  1920 

By  WATSON  NICHOLSON 

All  Rights  Rkserved 


A95Ni5 


FOREWORD 

Writing  twelve  years  after  Milton's  death, 
in  Lives  of  the  Most  Famous  English  Poets,  old 
Winstanley,  the  royalist,  disposed  of  the  author 
of  Paradise  Lost  in  exactly  eighty-two  words. 
Shakespeare,  escaping  the  political  odium  en- 
veloping the  blind  poet,  came  off  a  trifle  better. 
Other  early  biographers  of  the  English  Stage 
and  Drama  disclosed  similar  exaggerations  and 
eccentricities:  but  when  we  find,  later,  one  of 
them  devoting  twice  as  much  space  to  Tony 
Aston  as  to  Shakespeare  and  Milton  combined, 
we  are  aware  that  proportion  and  perspective 
are  wanting,  or  that  there  was  a  woful  kck  of 
material  and  judgment.  However,  when  the 
editors  of  the  latest  edition  of  the  Dictionary  of 
National  Biography  reserve  a  niche  for  the 
effigy  of  Anthony  Aston,  we  do  not  feel  called 
upon  for  an  apology  for  this  brochure. 

This  sketch  of  Aston's  h't'c  is  brief,  but — 
Ther  fi'as  namorc  to   telle. 
Short  as  the    account   is,    the   details   contained 
in     the    foHowing   pages    represent    all    that    is 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

known  about  the  once  famous  wag,  and  are  now 
published  for  the  first  time  since  Aston's  death. 
Tn  addition  to  the  Sketch,  the  discovery  of  which 
is  herein  recorded  and  the  document  itself 
printed  in  full,  it  has  been  thought  opportune 
to  reprint  the  Brief  Supplement  and  also  Chet- 
w^ood's  account  of  Aston;  thus  collecting  in  one 
place  all  that  is  known  of  and  about  Tonv  Aston. 

W.N. 
''Deer  Lodge" 
South  Haven,  Michigan, 
July  4,  1920. 


ANTHONY  ASTON: 
STROLLER  AND  ADVENTURER 

The  name  of  Tony  Aston  has  been  familiar  to 
all  men  of  letters,  particularly  to  students  of  the 
Stage,  for  two  centuries;  and  yet,  so  few  real 
facts  have  been  discovered,  hitherto,  concerning 
the  man's  life  that  we  may  assert  with- 
out fear  of  contradiction,  that  practically 
nothing  has  been  known  about  him,  save 
that  he  was  a  strolling  player  for  manv 
years,  the  author  of  an  unsuccessful  play  and 
the  much  more  important  Brief  Supplement  to 
Colley  Gibber's  Apology.  Chetwood's  General 
History  of  the  Stage  (1749)  has  been,  until  now, 
the  sole  source  of  our  knowledge  about  Anthony 
Aston.  This  is  the  only  reference  mentioned  by 
Baker  in  his  sketch  of  Aston  in  Riofjrapliia  Drtt- 
matica,  and  it  is  the  only  work  appended  to  his 
life  in  the  Dictiofiary  of  National  Biography. 
A  mere  glance  at  Chetwood's  three-page  gossipy 
iiccount  will  suflice  to  show  Iiow  really  meager 
our  knowledge  of  Tony  Aston  has  been,  up  to 
this  time.  Even  now,  many  essential  details  are 
wanting  for  a  wholly  satisfactory  biography  of 
the  man. 

5 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

This  paucity  of  information  about  Aston  is  the 
more  surprising,  inasmuch  as  during  his  own 
lifetime,  he  was  so  universally  known  in  England 
and  Ireland  that  his  name  was  a  mere  byword 
that  wanted  no  explaining.  Not  only  had  he 
played  "in  all  the  Theatres  in  London",  but  he 
was  "as  well  known  in  every  town  as  the  post- 
horse  that  carries  the  mail".  Probably  no  actor 
of  his  time,  with  the  possible  exception  of  Dog- 
get,  was  known  to  so  many  people.  Nearly 
every  one  who  could  raise  a  shilling  for  the  pur- 
pose had  been  convulsed  at  Tony's  grimaces.  He 
VN'as  so  familiar  to  all  that  his  name  grew  into  a 
figure  of  speech.  After  his  own  generation, 
however,  until  now,  all  that  attached  to  the 
name  of  Tony  Aston,  making  it  a  living  person- 
ality, was  forgotten,  save  the  few  choice  samples 
preserved  by  ChetAvood.  Just  as  the  old  Drury 
Lane  prompter,  John  Downes,  is  known  to  us 
simply  as  the  author  of  the  priceless  Roscius 
Anglicanus,  so  Tony  Aston  has  come  down  to  us 
as  the  blackguard  author  of  the  no  less  rare 
Brief  Supplement:  the  person  who  went  by  that 
name  has  vanished  and  left  not  sufficient  for 
even  a  "sticks-and-rags"  man. 

At  last,  by  one  of  those  lucky  stumbles,  per- 
petually possible  in  the  path  of  the  researcher, 
much  of  this  ignorance  about  the  details  of  the 

6 


AXTHOXY    ASTON 

life  of  Anthony  Aston  has  been  cleared  away. 
One  day,  in  the  British  Museum,  about  the  time 
of  the  outbreak  of  the  Great  War,  while  leafing 
over  some  old  and  forgotten  "drolls",  trivial  and 
sorry  stufif  even  in  their  own  time,  I  chanced 
upon  a  title-page  that  caused  me  to  sit  up  and 
rub  my  eyes.  There  was  something  decidedly 
familiar  about  it;  and  yet  I  had  never  seen  it 
before.  It  appeared  in  no  library  catalogue  that 
I  had  ever  seen,  in  no  reference  list,  in  no  biblio- 
graphical table.  If  any  one  else  had  ever  seen 
it,  he  had  failed  to  report  the  fact.  This  was  the 
title-page: 

A 

SKETCH 

OF  THE 

LIFE,    &c. 

OF 

Mr.    Anthony    Aston, 

Commonly     call'd     TONY     ASl^ON. 

Written  by  Himself. Now  All  Alive. 

There  was  no  mistaking  the  pages  which  fol- 
lowed this  announcement, — they  were  written 
by  the  author  of  the  Brief  Supplement.  Meager 
as  this  sketch  is, — it  was  intended  only  as  a 
synoptical  outline  of  a  more  complete  autobi- 
ography— it    supplies  us    with    a    multitude    of 

7 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

facts,  hitherto  inaccessible,  about  the  life  of  An- 
thony Aston;  in  fact,  it  is  our  first  real  account 
of  the  man.  I  have  gone  to  some  pains  to  verify 
(whenever  possible)  every  statement  made  by 
the  author,  and  have  spanned  the  breaks  in  the 
narrative  with  the  necessary  historical  connec- 
tions. For  this,  in  the  main,  I  have  relied  upon 
sources  contemporaneous  with  Aston's  own  ac- 
count.^ 

I. 

According  to  the  Sketch,  Anthony  Aston  was 
the  son  of  Richard  Aston  of  the  Staffordshire 
branch  of  that  numerous  family.  His  mother 
was  of  Irish  birth,  the  daughter  of  a  Colonel 
Cope,  County  Armagh.  Tony  was,  therefore, 
half  Irish,  which  may  or  may  not  account  for 
his  native  wit.  However,  the  nationality  of  his 
mother  does  assist  us  to  identify  the  father  of 
the  subject  of  our  story.  There  were  two  Rich- 
ard Astons  of  Staffordshire.  One,  the  grandson 
of  Sir  Walter,  first  Lord  Aston,  was  too  young 
to  be  the  father  of  Tony;  and,  besides,  the  rec- 
ords show  that  that  Richard  Aston  married  Jane 
Colclough.  The  only  alternative  is  that  the 
other  Richard  Aston  was  the  father  of  Tony. 
This  Richard  Aston  was  the  third  son  in  a  fam- 

1.  Chief  among  these  are.  The  Flying  Post,  Postman,  London  Post, 
Dawk'g  NewB-Letter,  London  Gazette,  English  Post,  Daily  Conrant,  and 
Craftsman. 


AXTHdXV    ASTOX 

ily  of  seven  children,  and  his  grandfather  was 
the  brother  to  Sir  Edward  Aston  who,  in  turn, 
was  father  to  Sir  Walter  first  Lord  Aston  J  It 
would  appear,  therefore,  that  the  Staffordshire 
Astons  were  highly  respectable;  and  Richard 
Aston  was  no  exception  to  this.  A  point  is  made 
of  this  fact  as  it  throws  light  on  Tony's  remark 
in  his  Sketch,  to-wit,  "As  for  my  Relations  every 
where,  I  don't  care  a  Groat  for  'em,  which  is 
just  the  Price  they  set  upon  me".  In  other 
words,  Tony  was  the  recognized  black  sheep  of 
the  flock, — a  fact  safely  vouched  for  by  his 
amazing  career." 

Richard  Aston  left  Staffordshire  before  his 
marriage,  and  went  up  to  London  to  pursue  the 
study  of  law.  He  seems  to  have  been  highly  suc- 
cessful;  and  his  ability  was  much  valued,  for, 
in  time,  he  became  Principal  of  Furnival's  Inn 
and  Secretary  of  the  King's  Bench.  Furnival's 
tnn^was  then  situated  on  the  north  side  of  High 
Holborn,  just  east  of  Gray's-Inn-Road,  between 
Brooke  Street  and  Leather  Lane.    At  the  top  of 

a.  SUffonfehire  Pedixree  (or.  1912).  d.  10.  For  the  A»ton  Coiit  of 
Arms,   see   Publications  of  the  Harleiarii  Society,   liU'J,   vol.    L.KIII. 

2.  It  ifi  of  r>a.sHin(r  intart^t  to  note  that  Richard  Aston  claimcfi  rela- 
tionship with  Anne  Braoi-jdrdle,  famous  actress  of  the  later  Resti^ration 
period  :  and  in  the  Brief  Supplement,  Anthony  states  that  "Lady  Shelton 
of  Norfolk   [wafl]   tny  Godmother". 

'.  Furnival'H  Inn  dcrivcB  itK  mime  from  the  orifrinal  occupants,  the 
Lords  Furnival.  It  is  first  noticed  ae  a  law  reminary  in  9  Hen.  IV.  In 
Uichard  Ast/jn's  time  it  was  an  Inn  i>\  Chanctry  jittiichid  to  LincdlnV 
Inn.  About  1818  it  oeaaed  to  have  any  connection  with  :iny  Inn  of  Court. 
In  recent  times  it  haa  been  pulled  do'wn.  the  site  brinu  now  occupied  by 
the   Prudential    buildinK. 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

Brooke  Street  (not  many  paces  from  the  place 
where,  at  No.  39,  the  career  of  the  youthful 
Chatterton  was  ended  in  1770),  is  Brooke  Mar- 
ket. Here  lived  Richard  Aston,  and  here,  prob- 
ably, young  Aston  spent  his  earliest  days.  Rich- 
ard Aston,  "tho'  a  Lawyer,  liv'd  and  dy'd  an 
honest  Man".  He  compiled  a  valuable  book 
(1661)  entitled,  Placita  Latine  Redhnva  which 
went  through  the  third  edition  in  1673. 

Naturally,  the  father  chose  for  his  son  the 
profession  of  law.  Tony's  first  tutor,  from 
whom  he  got  his  earliest  "tincture  of  whims", 
was  one  Ramsay  'Svho  first  innoculated  the  Itch, 
and  also  good  Latin".  He  was  then  sent  to  "my 
beloved  Town  of  Tamworth"  in  Stafifordshire, 
to  complete  his  Grammar  education.  Here  the 
boy  proved  father  to  the  man,  indulging  in  "in- 
nocent pranks",  which  accorded  well  with  his 
"mercurial  disposition".  His  experience  at 
Tamworth  he  describes  more  picturesquely  as 
"the  early  Seeds  of  Whim  which  push'd  out  in 
my  Infant  Puerility".  In  fact,  throughout  a  long 
life,  these  same  seeds  never  ceased  "pushing 
out".  It  was  probably  at  Tamworth  that  he  first 
began  to  scribble  poetry,  though  the  best  sample 

1.  Tamworth,  at  the  confluence  of  the  Tame  and  Auker,  was  a  famous 
royal  residence  as  far  back  ae,  the  Heptarchy.  Offa's  Charter  to  the  Wor- 
cester Monks  was  dated  from  Tamworth,  A.  D.  781.  About  910,  Ethelfleda 
created  a  fortress  there,  which  was  nearly  destroyed  by  the  Danes,  and 
later  rebuilt. 

10 


AXTHOXY    ASTON 

we  have  he  declares  he  wrote  at  the  age  of  seven. 
He  named  it  a  burlesque 

IN  PRAISE  OF  PEACE 

One  in  a  figlit,  when  standing  at  his  Ease, 

Did  boldly  eat  a  piece  of  Bread  and  Cheese; 

His  Fellow  ask'd  him  for  a  little  Crumb , 

Tho'  not  so  big  as  Supernaculum: 

The  greedy  Dog  deny'd:  why  should  he  grudge 
it? 

He  had  above  a  Peck  within  his  Budget: 

But  while  his  Hand  cramm'd  Meat  into  his  Gul- 
let, 

His  Mouth  received  a  spightful  leaden  Bullet. 

Now  Bread  and  Cheese  lies  trampled  on  the 
Ground, 

And  such  another  Piece  can  ne'er  be  found ; 

So  I'm  resolv'd  I  never  War  will  make. 

But  e'er  keep  Peace  (or  Bread  and  Cheese's  sake. 

"Says  my  School-master,  Antrohus.  Give 
Aston  nothin^^  but  Bread  and  Cheese  these  three 
Days." 

Whether  Tony  finished  the  course  at  the 
Tamworth  Grammar  School  we  are  not  in- 
formed. On  his  return  to  London,  he  was  made 
"an  unlucky  clerk"  to  a  .Mr.  Randle  of  the  Si.\ 
Clerks'  Office.  \n  this  capacity  he  confesses, 
with  his  usual  frankness,  that  he  was  "unworthy" 

11 


.XXTHOXV    ASTOX 

and  "idle,"  doubtless  dreaming  of  the  days  of  his 
Tamvvorth  "pranks".  It  was  not  long  until  he 
was  "transplanted"  to  another  office  to  learn  the 
ways  of  the  lawyer  under  a  Mr.  Paul  Jodrel, 
for  whom  Tony  had  an  unbounded  admiration. 
Instead  of  sticking  faithfully  to  the  routine  task 
of  copying  bills,  answers,  etc.,  the  lad  still  "pre- 
served his  mercurials",  and  spent  much  of  his 
time  scribbling  verse,  reading  plays,  and  going 
to  the  theatre.  In  brief,  Tony  was  cut  out 
neither  for  the  law  nor  for  any  work  that  re- 
quired systematic  industry  and  habits  of  dis- 
cipline. 

At  this  juncture  in  his  bringing  up,  youno- 
Aston  went  to  see  Thomas  Dogget  make  comi- 
cal faces  "in  the  last  two  acts".  This  little  exper- 
ience proved  to  be  the  parting  of  the  ways.  He 
threw  up  the  profession  of  law  and  went  on  the 
stage  (he  explicitly  designates  the  "Old  Play- 
House",  and,  again  in  1735,  in  a  whimsical 
speech  delivered  in  the  House  of  Commons,  he 
states  that  he  was  "initiated  there",  /.  e.  at  Drury 
Lane  ).  His  name  does  not  appear  in  any  of  the 
play-bills  of  the  day,  and  this,  together  with 
Chetwood's  remark  that  he  was  never  long  at 
any  one  theatre,  indicates  that  he  was  never 
given  an  important  part;  and  he  was  too  indo- 
lent, or  restless  for  new  experiences,  to  secure 

12 


AXTHOXY    ASTON 

his  place  even  in  a  minor  part.  Tonv's  version 
of  the  case,  however,  is  to  the  effect  that  he  "suc- 
ceeded in  many  Characters",  and  he  went 
through  life  protesting  to  the  last  that  he  had  no 
superiors  in  certain  parts  on  the  stage.  At  least 
in  one  character  he  had  no  peers,  namely,  that 
of  Tony  Aston.  The  fact  is,  he  was  a  soldier  of 
fortune  de  natura,  and  anything  that  smacked  of 
continuous  and  coherent  effort  was  disagreeable 
to  him.  It  is  true,  the  time  came,  as  to  all  such 
roving  natures,  when  he  must  find  a  groove  for 
himself  to  move  in,  but,  even  then,  as  we  shall 
find,  it  was  the  nomadic  life  he  chose,  rather  than 
risk,  the  ennui  growing  out  of  the  daily  grind  of 
a  settled  profession. 

As  to  the  exact  date  when  Aston  left  Master 
Jodrcl  and  went  on  the  stage  (as  well  as  the 
dates  of  the  other  events  of  his  checkered  career) 
he  is  exasperatingly  indifferent,  or  entirely 
silent.  From  internal  evidence  and  several  other 
correlated  events,  however,  we  may  assert,  with 
a  high  degree  of  probabilitv  that  we  are  right, 
that  it  was  in  the  year  1697  that  he  gave  up  the 
law  and  went  to  Drury  Lane  to  serve  Mimos. 
In  his  Brief  Supplement,  comparing  Betterton 
and  Powell,  Astf)n  savs  that  the  former  was 
sixty-three,  the  latter  forty,  years  of  age,  at  the 
time  of  which  he  was  writing.    Evidently,  these 

1.5 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

reminiscences  were  of  the  time  when  he  was  best 
acquainted  with  the  actors,  that  is,  when  he  was 
associated  with  them.  In  other  words,  he  had  the 
season  of  1697-'8  in  mind.  The  correctness  of 
this  conjecture  is  supported  by  another  statement 
in  the  same  work.  Writing  of  Dogget,  he  says 
that  that  comedian  left  the  London  stage  at  the 
latter  end  of  King  William's  reign,  "at  which 
time  I  came  on  the  Stage".  This  evidence  is 
conclusive.^  Dogget's  name  disappeared  from 
the  London  play-bills  at  the  close  of  the  1696-7 
season,  and  does  not  reappear  in  them  for  more 
than  three  years.  This  fact  enables  us  to  estab- 
lish another  date  in  Tony's  biography.  The  late 
Mr.  Joseph  Knight  (vide  Dictionary  of  Na- 
tional Biography,  Art.  "Thomas  Dogget") 
thought  it  probable  that  these  three  years  were 
spent  by  Dogget  in  a  visit  to  Dublin,  the  city  of 
his  nativity  and  the  place  where  he  began  his 
histrionic  career.  Knight  further  states  that 
Aston  met  Dogget  in  Norwich,  but  gives  neither 
date,  authority,  nor  excuse  for  injecting  this 
fragmentary  information  into  the  biography. 
However,  the  matter  may  now  be  cleared  up  for 
the  first  time.    In  his  Sketch  (of  which  Knight 

1.  Since  writinp:  this  pa-ssat'e,  I  have  found  complete  verification  of 
the  conclusion  therein  deduced,  in  a  warrant  in  the  Lord  Chamberlain's 
cfRcc  in  London  dated  November  23.  1697,  for  the  arrr«t  of  Dopfrel:  for 
violatinp  his  articles  and  desertinzr  the  company  acting  in  Dorset  Garden. 
Dogget's  a.rticles  are  dated  April  3,  1696,  and  were  for  three  years. — 
Lord   Chambcrlain'g  Bk«.,   Class   .5,  No.   114,   p.   40,   and   idem,   Class   7,   Ser. 

14 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

knew  nothing)  Tony  tells  us  that,  after  leaving 
the  London  stage,  he  went  over  to  Ireland, 
then  returned  to  England  and  "travell'd  with 
Mr.  Cash, Dogget, Booker  [and]  Mins".  Again, 
in  the  Brief  Supplement,  he  says,  "I  have  had 
the  pleasure  of  his  [r.  e.  Dogget's]  Conversation 
for  one  Year,  when  I  travell'd  with  him  in  his 
strolling  Company".  Now,  we  know  that  Dog- 
get's company  was  travelling  in  1699,  for  on 
January  27  of  that  year  he  performed  at  the 
Angel  Inn,  Norwich.  It  was  then  that  Aston 
must  have  been  with  him,  for  it  is  the  only  year 
in  which  I  have  found  Dogget's  name  connected 
with  a  strolling  company  in  England,  after  he 
joined  the  patentees  in  1690.  On  the  night  in 
question  at  Norwich,  the  gallery  was  so  crowded 
that  it  gave  way  and  many  people  were  injured 
by  the  collapse.  One  child  had  its  neck  dislo- 
cated, a  mishap  which  seemed  to  cause  it  small 
inconvenience,  as  Dr.  Read,  the  King's  oculist 
was  present  and  succeeded  in  re-adjusting  the 
member  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  concerned.^ 
Dogget's  company  was  much  respected  by  the 
public,  as  "each  Sharer  kept  his  Horse",  a  spe- 
cial mark  of  the  gentleman,  which  Tony  proudly 
sets  down  in  his  Sketch.  From  a  casual  remark 
in  the  Brief  Supplement,  we  conclude  that  Aston 
was  a  full  sharer  in  Dogget's  company. 

1.     Dawk'ii   .Ncw»   Letter,    No.   41  J. 

15 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

The  chronology  for  these  years,  therefore 
so  far  as  Aston  is  concerned,  appears  to  be  as 
follows.  In  1697  he  abandoned  the  study  of  law 
and  went  to  act  at  Drury  Lane  Theatre.  Not 
succeeding  there,  nor  at  the  other  patent  house, 
he  joined  Dogget  in  Dublin  where  he  probably 
acted  in  1698.  The  following  year  he  travelled 
with  Dogget's  company  in  England,  as  already 
mentioned.  These  years  filled  Aston's  imagi- 
nation with  the  allurements  of  the  stroller's  life, 
with  its  ever  shifting  fortunes  and  adventures, 
and  formed  the  determining  factor  in  his  later 
movements. 

On  leaving  Dogget's  company,  Tony  first 
tried  his  luck  as  a  soldier.  It  is  inconceivable 
that  he  should  have  chosen  this  profession  of  his 
own  volition.  It  is  more  probable  that  his  father 
placed  him  in  the  army  for  purposes  of  disci- 
pline. However  that  may  have  been,  the  father 
paid  the  piper,  and  Tony's  happiest  recollection 
of  this  period  was  that  he  took  delight  in  "oblig- 
ing" his  "friend",  Sergeant  Callow,  and  posed 
as  a  young  spark  with  a  father  of  means.  In 
spite  of  himself  the  drill  in  the  manuals  stood 
him  in  good  stead  at  no  distant  date. 

Anthony  could  not  have  been  connected  with 
the  army  for  long,  for  within  two  years  follow- 
ing his  strolling  with  Dogget,  we  find  him  shift- 

16 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

ing  from  one  post  to  another  in  rapid  succession. 
At  the  beginning  of  his  Sketch,  he  asserts  that 
he  was  a  "Gentleman,  Law}^er,  Poet,  Actor,  Sol- 
dier, Sailor,  Exciseman,  Publican" — a  very  nat- 
ural progression  for  such  a  character — and  the 
sequence  probably  followed  nearly  in  the  order 
given,  although  it  is  not  always  easy  to  unravel 
the  chronology  of  some  of  the  jumbled  and  irrel- 
evant jargon  composing  the  brief  account  of  his 
life.  For  instance,  just  when  or  why  or  how  he 
secured  the  berth  of  Exciseman  is  a  mystery;  but 
it  is  likely  that  this  was  one  of  the  numerous  ex- 
periments whereby  Tony  was  tried  out  to  deter- 
mine if  he  were  really  fit  for  anything  in  the 
world.  This  much  is  clear,  the  place  was  un- 
sought by  him,  for,  being  born  a  gentlem.an,  "I 
would  not  have  you  think",  he  says,  "that  I  men- 
tion being  an  Exciseman  as  a  credit  to  me;  no,  to 
screen  that,  I  once  pass'd  [myself  off]  for  a 
Corn-Cutter".  He  immediately  drops  the  sub- 
ject with  a  characteristically  vulgar  joke,  and 
does  not  refer  to  it  again.  T  place  this  experience 
of  Tony's  tentatively  before  that  of  his  voyage 
overseas  as  the  most  probable  order,  although  it 
may  have  fallen  in  a  later  period.  However, 
from  this  on,  for  a  considerable  time  at  least, 
we  are  able  to  check  up  his  movements  with  n 

17 


ANTHONY   ASTON 

degree  of  satisfaction,  by   correlating  his   own 
account  with  known  historical  facts. 

11. 

The  closing  years  of  the  17th,  and  the  begin- 
ning of  the  following,  century  were  filled  with 
stirring  affairs  for  England;  and  for  the  next 
two  or  three  years,  Aston's  shuttling  movements 
were  largely  guided  by  political  developments. 
The  last  years  of  King  William's  life  had  been 
spent  in  apprehension  of,  and  preparations  for, 
the  final  grip  with  the  great  menace  which  then, 
as  now  recently, threatened  all  Europe — an  arro- 
gant one-man  rule.  The  ambitions  of  Louis  XIV 
were  scarcely  veiled ; and  the  death  of  Charles  II 
of  Spain  near  the  close  of  1700  was  the  occasion 
for  "his  most  Christian  Majesty"  to  set  his  plans 
in  motion.  The  causes  of  the  War  of  the  Span- 
ish Succession  are  too  familiar  to  call  for  repeti- 
tion here.  Louis's  candidate  for  the  Spanish 
throne  was  his  kinsman,  the  Duke  of  Anjou, 
whom  he  immediately  sent  to  Madrid  to  secure 
the  crown.  The  popular  candidate  in  Spain,  or 
more  properly  speaking,  the  candidate  of  the 
Grandees,  was  Charles,  Archduke  of  Austria; 
but  a  declaration  in  his  favor  was  sure  to  precip- 
itate a  war  with  France,  and  to  avoid  that  con- 
tingency Spain  threw  herself  into  the  arms  of 

18 


AXTHOXY    ASTOX 

Louis.  Thus,  (fortunately,  as  the  event  proved 
— witness  Gibraltar)  England  found  herself 
confronted  by  two  foes  instead  of  one.  So  far  as 
England  and  France  alone  were  concerned, 
there  was  a  more  irritating  cause  for  hostilities 
than  even  the  question  of  the  Spanish  Succession. 
When  James  II  of  England  was  deposed  (1688), 
he  sought  an  asylum  in  France  where  he  was  re- 
ceived as  the  rightful  king  of  England;  and 
upon  his  death  (September  6,  1701),  Louis  at 
once  hailed  the  Pretender  as  the  legitimate  heir 
to  the  English  throne.  This  in  itself  was  a  suffi- 
cient cause  for  a  declaration  of  war, but  William 
of  Orange  died  suddenly  (March  8,  1702) 
before  the  formal  step  was  taken.  Less  than  two 
months  later  (May  4,  1702)  Queen  Anne  issued 
the  impending  declaration  of  war. 

Privateering  and  buccaneering  had  already 
commenced  in  the  waters  of  the  West  Indies  and 
along  the  coast  of  the  colonies  in  America.  No 
more  welcome  occasion  could  have  offered  itself 
to  Tony  Aston:  it  was  the  life  for  him.  Near 
the  close  of  1701,  he  set  sail  for  Jamaica  in  the 
brigantine  Diligence.  He  has  little  to  tell  of  the 
outward  voyage,  save  that  it  consumed  elc\'cn 
weeks,  and  the  captain  placed  him  in  irons  for 
certain  improprieties  towards  one  of  the  passen- 
gers.  On  his  arrival  at  Kingston,  Aston  applied 

19 


ANTHONY   ASTON 

himself  to  the  practice  of  law,  in  which  he  seems 
to  have  done  very  well,  for,  commenting  on  this 
experience,  he  says,  "I  kept  my  Horse,  liv'd  gay, 
pay'd  all  off".  Running  true  to  form,  however, 
he  was  soon  ready  for  pastures  new;  and  we  are 
able  to  test  the  accuracy  of  his  statements  by 
comparing  his  account  with  the  shipping  intelli- 
gence in  the  London  Gazette,  and  from  corres- 
pondence and  news  items  as  these  appeared  in 
the  London  prints  from  time  to  time.  Thus  we 
learn  that  Colonel  Selwyn  had  been  appointed 
Governor  of  Jamaica  in  April,  1701,  but  for  one 
or  another  reason  he  did  not  arrive  in  the  island 
until  January,  1702.  His  first  duty,  of  course, 
was  to  put  the  colony  in  a  state  of  defense;  and, 
doubtless,  owing  to  Aston's  service,  brief  though 
it  was,  in  the  army,  the  latter  was  invited  to  as- 
sist in  the  work,  with,  it  would  appear,  the 
promise  of  the  first  vacant  commission.  Hope 
of  advancement,  however,  was  soon  blasted. 
Governor  Selwyn  died  soon  after  his  arrival  in 
Jamaica,  and  the  Council  for  the  colony  ap- 
pointed Peter  Beckford  to  fill  the  vacancy  until 
a  royal  commission  should  supply  a  successor 
to  Selwyn.  Meantime,  occurred  the  death  of 
King  William;  and  in  the  Summer  of  1702 
Queen  Anne  appointed  the  Earl  of  Peter- 
borough as  Governor  of  Jamaica.  For  some  un- 

20 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

explained  reason  he  never  went  out  to  the  col- 
ony, and  so  Col.  Thomas  Handasyde  (the  "Mr. 
H d e"  of  Aston's  Sketch)  was  ap- 
pointed in  his  room  in  1703.  Handasyde  had 
been  a  lieutenant  in  the  army  under  Selwyn,  and 
was  the  virtual  head  of  the  government  after  his 
chief's  death.  According  to  Tony's  own  testi- 
mony, the  new  governor  did  not  like  him ;  hence, 
there  was  no  hope  of  preferment  fron^  that  quar- 
ter, and  so  he  determined  on  moving  his  soldier- 
of-fortune's  camp. 

Once  more  our  picnro  took  passage  on  the 
Diligence,  this  time  bound  for  South  Carolina. 
The  "Manner  and  Horror"  of  this  voyage  was 
"inexpressible".  They  were  cast  away  on  the 
sands  of  Port  Royal,  only  sixty  miles  from  their 
destination.  In  answer  to  their  "plaintive 
Guns",  a  Bermudan  sloop  came  to  their  succour. 
After  being  plundered  by  his  rescuers,  Aston 
arrived  in  Charleston,  S.  C,  "full  of  Lice, 
Shame,  Poverty,  Nakedness  and  Hunger". 
These  sufiferings  were  partly  palliated  by  the 
kind  treatment  he  received  at  the  hands  of  Gov. 
James  Moore,  whom  he  afterwards  accom- 
panied on  an  expedition  against  the  Spaniards  at 
St.  Augustine.  The  exciting  episodes  of  this  last 
mentioned  exploit,  our  hero  promises  "will  be 
described  at  large  in  a  volume".    This  was  the 

21 


AXTIIOXV    ASTOX 

book  that  never  was  written,  more  is  the  pity. 
Soon  after  these  events,  Moore  was  succeeded 
by  that  able  man,  Sir  Nathaniel  Johnson,  who  so 
assiduously  and  effectually  guarded  his  capital 
that  the  Spaniards  never  once  threatened  his 
position.  In  one  of  the  companies  of  soldiers 
organized  by  Johnson,  Aston  was  made  a  Lieu- 
tenant of  the  Guard  with  a  commission  from  the 
Governor.  Tony,  however,  objected  to  the  over- 
bearing treatment  accorded  him  by  his  Captain, 
"one  Heme",  and  particularly  "since  he  caus'd 
me  to  do  that  Duty  he  was  to  relieve  [me  of] 
every  other  Night",  he  surrendered  his  commis- 
sion and  once  more  tried  a  turn  of  the  wheel  of 
fortune.  Before  this,  however,  probably  soon 
after  his  arrival  at  Charleston,  he  "turned 
Player  and  Poet",  but  not  for  long,  we  may  im- 
agine. He  further  states  that  he  wrote  a  play  on 
the  country;  but  this  chef-d'oeuvre  has  not  been 
preserved. 

When  our  adventurer  left  Charleston  in  a 
!iuf]f,  he  headed  for  North  Carolina  in  a  small 
sloop,  with  the  ultimate  aim  of  securing  passage 
on  some  homeward  bound  vessel.  The  storm 
which  drove  the  Diligence  aground  near  Port 
Royal  in  1702  was  a  dallying  zephyr  compared 
to  the  weather  which  they  encountered  on  this 
voyage.    If  his  memory  did  not  play  him  a  trick, 

22 


AXTHOXY    ASTOX 

Aston  was  lashed  to  the  helm  for  twelve  hours, 
while  his  clothes  were  literally  washed  from  his 
body.  The  little  barque  was  knocked  to  pieces 
off  Cape  Fear,  and  Tony,  like  another  classic 
sailor,  found  himself  washed  ashore  on  the  bank 
of  a  small  river.  He  too  was  relieved  by  a  sec- 
ond Alcinoiis  who  cared  for  him  a  month,  after 
which  he  returned  to  Charleston  for  a  second 
attempt.  This  time  (November,  1703)  he 
steered  for  New  York;  but  once  more  the  storms 
pounded  the  ship  fearfully  and  it  was  obliged  to 
put  into  a  Virginia  harbour.  After  recuperat- 
ing at  the  house  of  a  Quaker,  Tony  and  two  fel- 
low travellers  borrowed  horses  and  made  their 
way  to  Newcastle,  on  through  Pennsylvania  and 
New  Jersey,  and  finally  arrived  at  New  York. 
If  all  the  details  of  these  adventures  had  been 
set  down  in  Aston's  vernacular,  they  doubtless 
would  rival  anything  with  which  fact  or  fiction 
has  been  adorned.  It  is  a  world  of  pities  that 
Tony  never  got  to  the  task  of  elaborating  his 
notes  of  these  exciting  experiences. 

Once  in  New  York,  he  had  the  rare  good  for- 
tune to  fall  in  with  a  number  of  his  old  London 
acquaintances, who  had  on  former  occasions  ren- 
dered him  aid  and  who  now  again  befriended 
him.  The  name  of  one  of  these  appears  fre- 
quently in  the  annals  of  the  wars  then  waging, 

23 


ANTHONY   ASTON 

Captain  Henry  Pullen,  or  Pulleyn.  Aston  spent 
this  Winter  (1703-'4)  in  keeping  with  his  char- 
acter, or,  as  he  puts  it,  "acting,  writing,  courting, 
fighting".  In  the  following  Spring  or  early 
Summer,  another  attempt  was  made  to  return  to 
England;  and  this  time  our  wanderer  was  suc- 
cessful, albeit  the  voyage,  like  the  course  of 
Tony's  career,  was  a  circuitous  one.  By  another 
run  of  good  luck  he  was  given  free  passage  back 
to  Virginia  where  he  was  "treated  handsomely" 
by  the  Governor,  Sir  Francis  Nicholson,  whose 
guest  he  apparently  was  for  some  time, — at  least 
one  would  assume  that  such  was  the  relationship 
from  Tony's  own  account.  In  January,  1704, 
the  real  opportunity  to  get  back  home  came, 
when  a  portion  of  the  British  Fleet  under  Com- 
modore Evans  acted  as  convoy  to  some  500  sail 
bound  for  home  ports.  Though  still  a  mendi- 
cant, Aston  was  yet  in  luck,  for  the  "generous 
Captain  Pulman  of  the  Hunter"  gave  him  his 
passage,  and  he  was  not  less  grateful  to  his  "dear 
Captain  Pullen"  for  his  "punch  and  extraordi- 
naries." 

The  homeward  voyage  was  relieved  from 
monotony  by  a  few  brushes  with  the  enemy,  and 
on  August  7,  1704  the  Fleet  anchored  in  the 
Downs.  After  an  absence  from  England  of 
about  three  years,  filled  with  the  experiences  of 

24 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

the  adventurer,  Tony  Aston  found  himself  once 
more  in  London,  penniless  and  with  nothing  in 
view.  He  was  still  in  his  early  twenties,  and  the 
predominant  trait  in  his  character,  thus  far  de- 
veloped, pointed  clearly  to  the  mountebank. 
His  good  family  connections  had  doubtless  been 
drawn  upon  in  more  than  one  emergency;  in  no 
other  way  can  we  account  for  the  almost  invari- 
ble  kind  treatment  he  received  from  those  high 
in  position  and  authority.  On  the  other  hand, 
he  had  many  good  points  to  insure  his  getting 
along  among  strangers.  He  was  possessed  of  a 
fair  degree  of  honesty,  was  witty,  a  shrewd  ob- 
server of  human  nature,  and  was  a  good  judge 
of  character.  His  inclinations,  however,  were 
unswervingly  towards  a  low  level.  That  he  had 
histrionic  ability  there  is  no  doubting;  but  every- 
thing about  him,  taste,  experience,  mental  equip- 
ment, indicated  the  low  comedian  rather  than 
the  dignified  wearer  of  the  sock.  As  we  have 
seen,  it  was  to  the  business  of  grimacing  that  he 
invariably  returned  after  he  had  tired  of  other 
ventures:  so  now,  he  drifted  unerringly  to 
Smithfield,  it  being  the  height  of  the  "season" 
there.  Here  he  proceeded  to  "settle  down,"  at 
least  to  take  a  step  in  that  direction,  by  getting 
married,  as  he  informs  us,  to  a  "Bartholomew 
Fair  lady",  presumably  an  actress  who  later  be- 

25 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

came  "leading  lady"  in  Tony's  strolling  Com- 
pany. 

III. 

About  this  time,  that  is,  soon  after  his  return 
to  London,  it  appears  that  Aston  joined  Colonel 
Salisbury's  expedition  to  Portugal,  with  the 
promise  of  the  first  commission  to  fall  vacant; 
but,  as  on  a  former  occasion  in  the  colonies,  he 
was  disappointed  in  this,  and  probably  took  no 
further  part  in  the  business.  (He  states  in  the 
Sketch  that  he  had  been  in  "Hispaniola",  but 
makes  no  allusion  to  his  experiences  there.) 
Once  more  he  turned  stroller,  and  "continued 
up  and  down  in  England,  Scotland,  Ireland, 
acting".  Just  how  long-  he  continued  swinging 
around  the  circle  without  a  break,  he  does  not 
tell  us;  but  with  the  possible  exception  of  a 
slight  change  in  his  course  for  a  short  period — 
an  episode  to  be  mentioned  later — this  probably 
marks  the  close  of  Tony's  irregular  wanderings, 
and  the  beginning  of  a  half-century  of  regular 
routine  strolling.  The  first  five  or  six  years  of 
this  long  experience  Aston  seems  to  distinguish 
from  the  remainder  of  the  period,  for  in  a  peti- 
tion to  Parliament  in  1735,  he  says  that  "for 
twenty-five  years  past,  my  Medley  .  .  .  hath 
been  admitted   and   applauded   through   Great 

26 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

Britain";  and  in  his  Sketch  he  mentions  the  fact 
that  he  "set  up"  his  Medley  after  leaving  ofif 
strolling,  leaving  the  impression  either  that  he 
had  been  travelling  with  some  other  company 
or  that  his  Medley  performances  w^ere  in  con- 
tradistinction to  the  amusements  offered  by  the 
stroller.  As  a  matter  of  fact  Aston  did  not  leave 
ofif  strolling  at  all;  he  simply  altered  somewhat 
the  character  of  his  entertainments  in  about  1710, 
after  which  he  regaled  the  public  of  the  prov- 
inces with  a  hotch-potch  bill  which  he  very 
properly  called  a  Medley.  This  was  not  of 
Tony's  invention,  but  was  the  direct  descendant 
of  the  so-called  ''drolls"  of  the  Commonwealth 
period — a  mongrel  species  of  performances  con- 
ceived to  keep  alive  the  histrionic  art  during 
the  time  when  the  theatres  were  closed.  There 
are  numerous  examples  extant  of  Tony's  enter- 
tainments. They  consisted  of  a  concoction  of 
numerous  scenes  (usually  six  or  eight)  taken 
from  the  chief  stock  plays,  and  had  no  more  re- 
lation one  to  another  than  the  numbers  in  a  mod- 
ern vaudeville  bill  or  music  hall  "show".  To 
these  scenes  were  tacked  an  occasional  prologue 
and  epilogue,  and,  to  add  variety,  dances  and 
comical  songs  were  interspersed.  These  furbe- 
lows were  the  product  of  Aston's  "undaunted 
genius." 

27 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

From  the  advertisements  in  the  newspapers  of 
the  time,  and  from  the  songs  preserved  in  printed 
form,  we  learn  something  of  the  character  of 
these  performances — if  performances  they  may 
be  called,  as  their  chief  source  of  amusement  lay 
in  Tony's  grimaces  and  in  stage  "business".  Of 
course,  the  humorous  songs,  epilogues  and  pro- 
logues were  often  improvised  to  fit  local  condi- 
tions, making  them  the  special  features  of  the 
entertainment.  As  a  typical  programme  of  a 
feast  of  mirth  ofifered  by  Tony  to  the  hungry 
public,  the  following,  taken  from  the  Daily 
Courant  for  December  27,  1716,  will  serve  as  an 
illustration: 

"Tony  Aston's  Medley  From  Bath. 
Begins  to  Morrow,  being  Friday  the  28th  In- 
stant [December,  1716],  at  the  Globe  and  Marl- 
borough's Head  in  Fleetstreet.  He  gives  his 
humble  Duty  to  the  Quality,  and  Service  to  his 
Friends  and  Acquaintances,  hoping  they  then 
grace  his  first  Night,  at  6  a-Clock,  Price  Is. 
That  Night's  Entertainment  will  be,  1.  A  new 
Prologue.  2.  Riot  and  Arabella.  3.  Woodcock 
Squib  and  Hilaria.  4.  Serjeant  Kite  and  Mob. 
5.  Ben  and  Miss  Prue.  6.  Fondlewife  and 
Laetitia.  7.  Teague.  8.  Jerry  Blackacre  and 
Widow.  9.  The  Drunken  Man.  10.  A  new 
Prologue.  With  Dances,  and  new  Comical 
Songs. 

28 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

N.  B.  All  this  is  perform'd  by  Mr.  Anthony 
Aston,  his  wife,  and  son  of  10  Years  only,  and 
will  continue  Nightly,  Bills  being  stuck  up  of 
the  whole  Entertainment,  which  varies  each 
Night". 

Although  Tony  boasted  that  he  was  capable 
of  contending  with  the  best  of  'em  for  the  bays, 
it  is  perfectly  evident  that  he  was  most  success- 
ful in  the  horse-play  scenes  of  the  Restoration 
Drama.  In  these  entertainments  he  merely  at- 
tempted to  impersonate  the  leading  comedians  of 
the  day  in  their  parts;  and,  indeed,  it  is  improb- 
able that  he  ever  got  much  beyond  the  under- 
study. As  an  actor  his  originality  consisted  in 
"taking  off"  well  known  eccentric  characters  of 
the  day.  In  this  he  was  the  immediate  forerun- 
ner of  Samuel  Foote  who  copied  Tony  in  more 
than  one  particular.  Reverting  to  the  above  bill, 
the  items  varied  from  time  to  time,  but  the  qual- 
ity remained  always  about  on  one  level. 

This  coming  to  London,  as  announced  in  the 
foregoing  advertisement^  cast  the  shadow  of  an 
expanding  ambition  on  the  part  of  Anthony 
Aston,  an  ambition  that  never  got  beyond  the 
nursing  stage.  Hitherto,  his  "company"  con- 
sisted of  himself,  wife  and  son.  Me  now  re- 
cruited it  by  four  more  actors  and  actresses  and 
offered  to  the  public  taste  ati  "Kpitome  of  the 

29 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

best  Comedies"  by  his  "additional  Company". 
This  was  a  mere  feeler,  which  he  immediately 
followed  by  announcing  "the  whole  Spanish 
Fryar"  for  March  2,  1717;  and  thereby  hangs 
a  tale.  Tony's  advertisements  at  least  were  now 
quite  as  respectable  as  those  of  the  two  patent 
houses.  The  Drury  Lane  Theatre  had  been 
playing  Three  Hours  After  Marriage,  while  the 
new  house  in  Lincoln's-Inn-Fields  was  offering 
The  She  Gallant,  with  singing  by  Cook,  "and 
several  Entertainments  of  Dancing  by  Mons. 
Mrean,  Mrs.  Bullock,  and  Mons.  Salle  and 
Madamoiselle  Salle  his  Sister,  the  two  Chil- 
dren". ^ 

Now,  it  was  exactly  because  Tony  aspired 
(whatever  the  motive)  to  something  higher  than 
his  faddling  Medley,  that  he  ran  amuck  of  the 
great  orbs,  Wilks,  Cibber,  and  Booth  at  the 
Drury  Lane  Theatre,  and  John  Rich  at  the  Lin- 
coln's-Inn-Fields; for  these  managers  claimed 
a  monopoly  of  the  acted  legitimate  drama  in 
London.  They  would  brook  no  encroachments 
on  their  patents,  and,  while  it  was  not  then 
usual  for  them  to  take  any  notice  of  the  two 
"fairs"  and  the  numerous  "booths"  about  town, 
that  "whole  Spanish  Fryar"  was  more  than  they 
were  willing  to  swallow.      The   law  supplied 

1.     Dally  Courant,   Jan.   18,   1717. 

30 


ANTHOXY    ASTON 

them  with  sufficient  "instrumentalities"  for  si- 
lencing all  opposition,  and  a  simple  mandate 
was  usually  sufficient.  At  any  rate,  we  hear  no 
more  of  Aston's  attempt  to  represent  the  legiti- 
mate drama  in  London.  The  full  force  of  the 
blow  to  Tony's  hopes  did  not  end  with  the  sup- 
pression of  The  Spanish  Friar,  but  struck  at 
something  more  tangible  and  more  vital  than 
mere  ambition.  This  will  appear  more  clearly 
in  the  next  announcement  which  he  ventured  to 
publish.  About  a  week  after  the  episode  just 
related,  the  following  appeared  in  the  Daily 
Courant  (March  11,  1717)  : 
"At  the  Desire  of  some  Persons  of  Quality, 

This  present  Monday  will  be  Reviv'd 
Tony  Aston's  Medley:  Beginning  at  Six 
a-Clock,  at  the  Globe  and  Marlborough's 
Head  in  Fleetstreet;  when  the  Company 
mav  hear  that  Surprising  Musick  without 
Wind  or  String. 

N.  B.     Mr.  Aston  performs  to   divert   his 
Friends  Gratis,    and    hath   Toothpickers  to 
sell  at  Is.  each." 
It  is  the  ''N.  B."  part  of  this  advertisement  that 
holds  the  greatest  significance  for  the  student  of 
the   English   Stage.     It  means  Sf)mcthing  more 
than  that  poor  Aston  was  obliged  to  abandon 
his  big  scheme  to  represent  entire  plays ;  it  means 

31 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

that  the  patentees  were  determined  that  he 
should  not  act  at  all  in  London.  The  ''tooth- 
picker"  dodge  to  evade  the  letter  of  the  law  is 
probably  the  earliest  forerunner  of  later  similar 
devices  by  which  independent  theatrical  mana- 
gers got  around  the  ''for  hire,  gain,  and  reward" 
protection  of  those  specially  privileged  by  royal 
patent.  Thus  viewed,  this  otherwise  trifling  af- 
fair assumes  a  dignified  rank  in  a  long  struggle 
which  resulted,  more  than  a  century  later,  in 
the  abolition  of  the  theatrical  mc^nopoly  in  Lon- 
don. 

It  is  more  than  probable  that  the  patentees  be- 
gan to  hector  Tony  soon  after  his  arrival  in  Lon- 
don from  Bath,  and,  some  weeks  before  the  event 
just  recorded,  had  almost  succeeded  in  ousting 
him  from  his  little  kingdom  in  the  Strand.    On 
February  14,   1717,   he  was  forced  to  this  sub- 
terfuge: 
"For  the  Benefit  of  a  Gentleman  in  Distress, 
This   present   Thursday,   Tony   Aston   per- 
forms his  Medley,  at  the  Globe  and  Marl- 
borough's Head  in  Fleetstrcet,  being  the  last 
time  but  one  at  this  part  of  the  Town". 
The  "Gentleman  in  Distress"  was  doubtless  Mr. 
Anthony  Aston.     However,  the  trick  seems  to 
have  worked,  for  the  next  day  he  made  a  new  ap- 
peal to  the  public  by  borrowing  directly  from 

32 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

the  great  managers  themselves  the  stale  device, 
"at  the  Desire  of  several  Ladies  and  Gentle- 
men". A  week  later,  he  varied  the  ruse  in  the 
announcement  that  "several  Ladies  and  Gentle- 
men have  appointed  to  be  at  Tony  Aston's  Med- 
ley" on  a  given  day.  Emboldened  by  his  suc- 
cess in  hanging  on  longer  than  he  had  hoped  to 
do,  he  now  struck  out  on  the  venture  which  was 
earlv  destined  to  wreck  all  his  plans  in  London. 
Retaining  the  Medley  for  Mondays,  Wednes- 
days and  Fridays, he  announced  for  the  alternate 
days  of  the  week,  "a  Contiguous  Entertainment, 
beginning  with  a  new  farce  on  Tuesday  next 
rpebruary  26,  1717],  call'd  the  Way  of  the 
Town:  The  part  of  Old  Doodle  by  Mr.  Aston, 
Eleanor  his  neice  by  Mrs.  Aston,  Quicquid  a 
Comical  Servant  by  Aston,  Jun.  and  4  other 
Characters  by  People  capable  to  discharge 
them".  ^  The  proo;ress  after  this  was  rapid  to 
the  "whole  Spanish  Fryar"  affair,  as  already  re- 
lated, and  the  final  collapse  of  the  audacious 
scheme  to  beard  the  lion  in  his  den. 

Tony's  meteoric  appearance  at  the  Globe  and 
Marlborough's  Head  ceased  with  his  Easter 
Week  (1717)  engagement  there.  "Up  and  down 
England"  was  again  in  order.  It  is  unnecessary 
to  follow  him  in  these  peregrinations.  Tn  fact, 
beyond  the  bald  statement  which  he  makes  in 

I.     r)«lly  Conrmnt,   Fcl.ruary  22.   1717. 

33 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

the  Sketch  that  Ireland  and  Scotland  were  in- 
cluded in  his  itinerary,  his  condition  "sometimes 
increasing,  sometimes  decreasing  in  Circum- 
stances, Hopes,  Friends,  Patience — and  still 
have  livM  handsomely  by  God's  Providence — 
Force  of  my  undaunted  Genius",  we  know  little 
or  nothing  of  the  details  of  his  life  for  some 
years  following  his  adventure  in  London.  It  is 
worthy  of  record  that  Tony,  while  abhorring 
and  lamenting  the  illiberal  treatment  bestowed 
upon  him  by  the  patentees  in  London,  applied 
the  same  tactics  to  his  competitors  en  route. 
Chetwood,  a  contemporary  of  Aston's,  thus 
illumines  his  monopolistic  methods: 

"He  pretended  a  Right  to  every  Town  he  en- 
tered, and  if  a  Company  came  to  any  Place 
where  he  exhibited  his  Compositions,  he  would 
use  all  his  Art  to  evacuate  the  Place  of  these 
Interlopers,  as  he  called  them.  .  .  .  If  he 
met  with  a  sightly  house,  when  he  was  Itinerant, 
he  would  soon  find  the  Name,  Title,  and  Cir- 
cumstances of  the  Family,  curry  them  over  with 
his  humorous  verse,  and  by  this  means  get  some- 
thing to  bear  his  Charges  to  the  next  Station. 
...  If  Tony  by  chance  ever  came  to  a  Town 
where  a  Company  of  Showmen  (as  People  call 
them)  had  got  in  before  him,  he  presently  de- 
clar'd  War  with  them;  and  his  general  Condi- 

34 


AXTHOXV    ASTOX 

tions  of  Peace  were,  that  they  should  act  a  Play 
for  his  Benefit,  that  he  might  leave  the  Seige, 
and  march  with  his  small  Troop  to  some  other 
Place.    And  as  he  was  a  Person  of  Humour,  and 
a  proper  Assurance,   he   generally,   like   a  Cat, 
skimm'd  off  the  fat  Cream,  and  left  the  lean 
Milk  to  those  that  stay'd  behind." 
Tony  was  simply  shrewder,  not  meaner,  than  the 
others,  or,  as  Chetwood  doggerelizes  it: 
//  various  Dealers  the  same  Goods  exhibit, 
They  wish  each  other  dangling  on  a  Gibbet. 
The  same  historian  relates  the  story  of  the  trunk 
full  of  "cabbage-stocks,  bricks  and  stones"  left 
by  Tony  with  a  certain  landlord,  as  security  for 
an  unpaid  board  bill.    To  his  credit,   be  it  re- 
corded, as  soon  as  his  circumstances  permitted, 
he  returned  and  redeemed  the  pawn;  for,  "his 
Finances,  like  those  of  Kingdoms,  were  some- 
times at  the   Tide  of    Flood,    and   often  at  low- 
Ebb". 

Scholars  acquainted  with  the  evolution  of  the 
theatre  in  England  will  recall  that  the  first  third 
of  the  18th  century  was  a  critical  period  in  the 
history  of  the  Stage.  In  the  first  place,  there- 
was  a  determined  effort  to  bring  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  Crown  (through  the  Lord  Chamber- 
lain's office)  all  theatrical  amusements  through- 
out the  kingdom;  while  at  the  same  time,    the 

35 


AXTllOXV    ASTON 

patentees  of  the  two  national  theatres,  claiming 
under  the  patents  issued  by  Charles  II  to  Killi- 
trrew  and   Davenant  an   absolute  monopoly  of 
stage  performances  in  London,  stubbornly  de- 
fended their  sinecures  against  royal  encroach- 
ments, on  the  one  hand,  and  on  the  other  they 
were  jealously  alert  to  stamp  out  all  competi- 
tion of  every  nature  whatsoever.    These  contests 
culminated  in  the  famous  Licensing  Act  of  1737, 
rightly  regarded  as  the  most  illiberal  legislation 
ever  enacted  in  connection  with  the  acted  drama 
in  England.    As  the  precursor  of  this  Act,  Sir 
John  Barnard  in  1735  introduced  into  Parlia- 
ment the  Playhouse  Bill,  aimed  ostensibly  at  a 
new  theatre  in  the   East   End    (the   Goodman's 
Fields  Theatre)    erected  by  Thomas  Odell  to- 
ward the  close  of  1729.     The    real    purpose   of 
Barnard's  measure  was  to  clinch  the  monopoly 
of  the  Drury  Lane  and  Covent  Garden  Theatres, 
and   to   bring   under  the   control   of   the   Lord 
Chamberlnin     "all    common    players  of  Inter- 
ludes" within  the  realm.    Of  course  the  bill  met 
with  stiff  opposition;  the  term  "interlude"  was 
all-inclusive,  taking  in  Jarley  waxworks,  Aston 
Medleys,  and  what  not?    Among  others,  was  a 
"Petition  of  Anthony  Aston,  Comedian",  read  in 
the  House  of  Commons  April  14,  173.^.    The 
petitioner  conceived  that  he  would  be  ruined  if 

36 


AXTHOXV    ASTOX 

the  proposed  act  passed  into  law,  and  prayed  that 
he  might  be  heard  personally,  "he  being  poor, 
and  having  no  Money  to  fee  Counsel".  This 
request  was  granted;  and  one  wonders  which  it 
was,  the  desire  to  be  entertained,  or  the  love  of 
justice,  that  moved  the  committee  to  grant 
Tony's  plea.  The  speech  was  printed  by  its 
author, and  shows  the  acumen  and  egotism  of  th\^ 
man.  He  shrewdly  &aw  the  threatened  danger 
to  his  profession  in  the  Playhouse  Bill:  it  would 
give  to  the  magistrates  "the  whip-hand  of  us  all, 
except  the  Patentees",  who  would  still  remain 
immune  within  the  stronghold  of  their  royal 
patents.  Tony  then  launched  upon  one  of  his 
characteristic  boasts:  he  was  "esteem'd  through 
the  Kingdom  as  a  Top  Proficient,  .  .  .  and 
am  now  (without  Gaul  to  any  Actor)  willing  to 
contend  from  the  Ghost  in  Hamlet,  to  Hob  in 
the  Country  JVake",  a  fair  enough  challenge  it 
would  seem.  He  declared  that  his  Medley  was 
a  paragon  of  decency  and  good  manners,  "and 
l<atli  been  admitted  and  applauded  .  .  . 
when  anrl  uhcrc  common  Players  have  been  re- 
jected;  nay,  1  have  been  invited  often  into  the 
Private  Apartments  of  the  Heads  of  Colleges, 
and  Xohle.  an.l  (jcntlemen's  Houses;  so  that  if  it 
had  not  been  for  accumulated  Misfortunes,!  had 
been  in  easy  Circumstances".     He  closed  his  ad- 

aG94Gl 


ANTIiOXY    ASTOX 

dress  with  the  request  that  he  be  given  a  monop- 
oly of  the  Medley  business  in  Great  Britain, 
'*or  be  otherAvise  provided  for,  that  I  may  not 
starve  in  my  declining  Years". 

There  were  numerous  similar  attacks  on 
Barnard's  proposed  measure,  and  these  were  so 
successful  that  the  bill  was  withdrawn  on  April 
30,  1735.  Tony's  allusion  to  "accumulated  mis- 
fortunes" had  something  to  it  more  than  the  con- 
ventional hard-luck  story.  In  addition  to  the 
harsh  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the  patentees, 
complained  of,  at  one  time  during  his  career 
Tony  was  affiicted  with  consumption,  against 
which  he  seems  to  have  put  up  a  winning  fight. 
At  another  period,  the  date  of  which  I  have 
been  unable  to  fix  definitely,  he  invested  in  a 
public  house  in  Portsmouth.  The  money  which 
he  put  into  this  venture  must  have  been  the  in- 
heritance he  received  at  the  death  of  his  father; 
for  it  is  inconceivable  that  he  ever  should  have 
accumulated  a  sufficiency  of  his  own  earnings  to 
invest  in  any  substantial  business.  Sometime 
prior  to  this  diversion,  it  is  possible  that  he  was 
mitiated  into  the  tapster's  calling  by  Richard 
Estcourt,  the  actor,  who  at  one  time  seems  to 
have  owned  the  Bumper  Tavern  in  James  St., 
Covent  Garden.  This  conclusion  is  deduced 
from  an  advertisement  in  the  Spectator  No.  262 

38 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

(January  1,  1712),  in  which  a  Mr.  Estcoiirt 
recommends  his  "neat  natural  wines"  to  the  pub- 
lic who  will  be  served  "with  the  utmost  Fidelity 
by  his  old  Servant  Trusty  Anthony,  who  has  so 
often  adorned  both  the  Theaters  in  England  and 
Ireland".  If  this  be  our  Tony  (and  the  allusion 
to  his  acting  is  justifiable  grounds  for  suspecting 
that  it  is),  it  was  his  first  service  under  the  sign 
of  a  bunch  of  grapes,  as  the  commendation 
(which  carries  also  another  sign  of  the  times) 
says  of  him  that,  "as  he  is  a  person  altogether 
unknowing  to  the  Wine  Trade  it  cannot  be 
doubted  but  that  he  will  deliver  the  Wine  in  the 
same  natural  Purity  that  he  received  it  from  the 
Merchants".  The  reference  by  Estcourt  to  his 
"old  Servant  Trusty  Anthony",  is  a  little  mvsti- 
fying.  Aston  makes  but  a  single  passing  allusion 
to  Estcourt  in  his  Supplement ;  if  the  relation- 
ship between  the  two  had  ever  been  as  close  as 
that  indicated  in  the  advertisement  quoted,  it 
would  seem  that  Tony  would  have  made  some 
direct  reference  to  it.  However,  there  is  no 
doubting  that  Aston  kept  an  "ele«j^ant"  tavern  at 
Portsmouth,  if  wc  may  believe  liis  own  state- 
ment to  that  effect  in  the  recently  discovered 
Sketch.  He  appeared  to  like  the  Blue  Flag  as 
he  called  it,  "where  I  was  generously  used  by 
the   worthy   Corporation,    Officers,    and    others, 

39 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

and  there  might  have  continued,  had  some  of 
my  Family  proved  Honest".  With  this  remark 
he  drops  the  subject  as  suddenly  as  he  intro- 
duces it. 

IV. 

Aside  from  the  activities  recounted  in  the 
foregoing  outline,  there  is  left  to  record  the  out- 
put of  Tony  Aston's  pen.  Here,  again,  the  per- 
ennial characteristic  of  the  man  crops  out:  there 
is  more  of  boast  and  promise  than  real  achieve- 
ment. The  verses  scribbled  during  his  school- 
days have  not  been  preserved,  save  the  half 
dozen  couplets  quoted  near  the  beginning  of  this 
sketch;  but  from  these  we  may  judge  of  the  rest, 
as  the  man  himself  changed  little  from  boyhood 
to  old  age.  Indeed,  if  there  is  any  marked  dif- 
ference between  his  early  effort  and  later  com- 
positions, the  balance  tips  in  favor  of  the  former. 

Not  many  of  Aston's  "plays"  are  extant. 
Baker  [Biogrnphia  Dramatica) ,  quoting  Chet- 
wood,  says  that  Tony  wrote  a  piece  called  Love 
in  a  Hurry  which  was  acted  without  success  at 
the  Smock-Alley  Theatre  in  Dublin  in  1709. 
Chetwood  mentions  no  date  in  connection  with 
this  dramatic  effort,  and,  so  far  as  I  know,  Chet- 
wood is  the  sole  authority  for  its  existence.  But 
there  is  no  reason  for  doubting  that  the  play  was 
written  and  acted,  for,  as  already  pointed  out, 

40 


AXTHOXY    ASTOX 

Chetwood  has  been,  until  now,  our  only  author- 
ity on  Anthony  Aston.  It  is  probable  that  the 
piece  had  its  title  changed  when  it  was  printed, 
if  it  ever  was  printed,  or,  what  is  more  probable, 
Love  in  a  Hurry  was  the  sub-title  and  was 
omitted  from  the  printed  edition.  This  I  con- 
jecture from  the  fact  that  Aston  did  have  a  play 
printed  in  Dublin  in  1709,  bearing  the  title, 
"The  Coy  Shepherdess,  a  Pastoral,  as  it  was 
Acted  at  the  Theatre  Royal."  In  1712  this  was 
reprinted  in  London  with  the  following  title- 
page:  Pastora:  /  or,  th?  /  Coy  Shepherdess.  / 
An  /  Opera.  /  As  it  was  Perform'd  /  By  His 
Grace  the  Duke  of  /  Richmond's  Servants  /  At 
/  Tunbridge-Wells  /  In  the  Year  1712.  /  Writ- 
ten by  /  Anthony  Aston,  Comedian.  This  piece 
is  slight  from  every  approach,  and  is  beneath 
criticism.  It  could  not,  in  and  of  itself  possibly 
have  furnished  more  than  a  twenty  minutes  en- 
tertainment, without  the  addition  of  stage  "busi- 
ness" for  the  real  "show".  It  is  difficult  to  con- 
ceive why  it  was  called  an  "opera",  or  how  it 
possibly  could  have  formed  the  basis  of  amuse- 
ment of  any  sort  in  any  age.  But  then  wc  have 
our  own  comic  operas  to  answer  for. 

Much  later  than  The  Coy  Shepherdess  ap- 
peared The  Fool's  Opera.  I  have  placed  this 
conjecturcly  in  the  year  17.10,  although  it  is  pos- 

41 


ANTHONY   ASTON 

sible  that  it  appeared  later  than  that  date.  Gay's 
Beggar's  Opera  was  acted  early  in  1728,  and  as 
it  was  widely  imitated  it  is  possible  that  it  fur- 
nished Aston  with  the  suggestion,  although  the 
chief  resemblance  is  in  the  titles.  The  full  title 
of  Tony's  book  is,  The  /  Fool's  Opera;  /  or,  the 
/  Taste  of  the  Age.  /  Written  by  Mat.  Med- 
ley. /  And  Perform'd  by  /  His  Company  in 
Oxford.  /  To  which  is  prefix'd  /  A  /  Sketch  / 
of  the  /  Author's  life,  /  Written  by  Himself.  / 
This  is  a  very  rare  book,  not  on  account  of  the 
intrinsic  worth  of  the  "opera",  but  because  of 
the  "Sketch"  (which  is  suffixed,  not  prefixed  as 
stated  on  the  title-page).  The  British  Museum 
probably  possesses  the  only  copy  in  existence. 
It  is  the  only  authoritative  account  of  the  life  of 
Anthony  Aston  thus  far  unearthed,  and  its  exist- 
ence was  not  suspected  until  I  discovered  it  a 
few  years  ago.  It  has  been  largely  drawn  upon 
for  the  foregoing  pages,  and  is  of  such  singular 
importance  as  to  justify  a  reprinting  at  this  time. 
Its  general  characteristics  are  the  same  as  those 
of  tht  Brief  Supplement  (which,  is  also  reprinted 
in  this  volume),  although  more  ragged  in  style, 
and  less  coherent  and  more  crude  in  every  way. 
The  two  pamphlets  are  alike  in  the  vulgar  tone 
which  dominates  them  both,  and  in  the  egotism 
of  the  author.    The  two  documents  were  appar- 

42 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

cntly  set  up  and  printed  on  the  same  press.  A 
"To  the  Reader",  prefixed  to  the  Fool's  Opera, 
informs  us  that  it  "was  first  Acted  with  univer- 
sal Satisfaction  in  a  Person  of  Quality's  House, 
by  People  of  the  first  Rank,  for  their  own  Diver- 
sion; who,  I  must  needs  say,  did  all  the  Char- 
acters Justice,  especially  the  Fool,  who  out-acted 
himself.  The  "Person  of  Quality"  is  not  des- 
ignated, but  the  "People  of  the  first  Rank"  are 
set  down  as, 

Poet  Mr.  Aston  Sen. 

Fool Mr.  Aston,  Jun. 

Lady Mrs.  Motteux 

Maid Mrs.  Smith 

The  preface  closes  with  this  whimsy:  "N.  B.  I 
hereby  Own  to  have  Received  for  the  Copy  of 
this  OPERA  One  Thousand  Three  Hundred 
Forty  Four  Pounds,  Nineteen  Shilling  and 
Eleven  Pence  Three  Farthings, — All  in  Mr. 
Wood's  Half-pence."  Inset  at  the  top  of  the 
frontispiece  is  a  medallion  efiigy,  labelled  "Tony 
Aston,"  but,  althoup^h  a  rarity,  its  likeness  to  the 
original  may  be  doubted. 

In  passing, it  is  of  interest  to  note  that  Aston's 
company  was  not  confined  to  his  own  small  fam- 
ily, as  hitherto  generally  supposed.  In  addition 
to  the  Mrs.  Smith  and  the  Mrs.  Motteux  men- 
tioned in  the  above  cast  of  characters,  four  other 

43 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

names  appear  in  Tony's  company  at  other  times. 
These  were  Champneys  and  Leigh,  Mrs. 
Dumene  and  Mrs.  Lee.  These  names  appear 
among  the  dramatis  personae  of  the  Coy  Shep- 
herdess, and  were  probably  the  "additional  com- 
pany" mentioned  in  the  advertisements  of  1717. 

The  play  which  Tony  says  he  wrote  in  South 
Carolina  "on  the  Subject  of  the  Country",  as 
well  as  the  poetry  written  in  New  York  the  fol- 
lowing Winter,  probably  never  got  printed. 
This  may  also  be  stated  of  the  many  songs,  pro- 
logues, and  epilogues  which  he  composed  to 
"fill  up  the  chinks  of  the  slender  meal"  served 
up  in  his  Medleys.  Some  of  these,  doubtless, 
were  never  as  much  as  written  down,  but  were 
simply  improvisations  out  of  Tony's  surplus 
audacity  and  waggery.  However,  belles-lettres 
have  not  suflered  for  the  omission,  if  the  extant 
samples  of  Tony's  "undaunted  genius"  are  rep- 
resentative of  the  others. 

On  the  other  hand,  his  failure  to  write  down 
his  memoirs  of  the  stage  is  a  genuine  loss,  judg- 
ing from  the  quality  of  the  Brief  Supplement  to 
Colley  Cibber's  Apology.  The  Brief  Supplement 
is  most  unique.  The  criticisms  of  the  actors  and 
actresses  included  within  the  author's  purview 
are,  of  course,  partial,  sometimes  trivial,  and 
sometimes  exaggerated.     But  Aston    here    does 

44 


AXTHOXY    ASTOX 

what  scarcely  another  contemporary  was  able  to 
do,  namely,  he  hum.anizes  the  persons  dealt  with 
and  of.  Eschevv'ing  mere  platitudes,  he  justifies 
or  condemns  by  pointing  to  concrete  excellences 
and  palpable  faults, — to  specific  tones  and  ges- 
tures, to  glances  and  attitudes,  to  personal  man- 
nerisms and  even  to  physical  defects  and  virtues 
which  impeded  or  enhanced  the  effectiveness  of 
the  particular  character  he  writes  about.  Bell- 
chamber,  who  first  reprinted  the  Brief  Supple- 
ment in  his  "Cabinet"  in  1808,^  is  very  indignant 
at  Aston's  characterization  of  Bctterton,  but,  in 
this  instance,  Bcllchamber's  prejudice  is  so 
marked  as  to  neutralize  what  might  otherwise 
stand  for  an  excellent  judgment.  Moreover,  he 
ignores  the  fact  that  Aston  takes  for  his  text  the 
quotation.  Nemo  sine  crimine  vivit,  and  empha- 
sizes that  it  is  an  antidote  to  Gibber's  .apology 
that  he  is  preparing.  As  for  the  depiction  of 
Betterton,  Tony  states  very  clearly  that  he  is 
writing  about  the  great  actor  as  he  knew  him, 
that  is,  as  he  appeared  in  his  later  years  on  the 
stage.  And,  after  all,  who  has  bestowed  more 
intelligent  praise,  or,  which  is  mf)re  to  the  pur- 
pose, who  has  reproduced  a  livituj  Betterton  so 
well?    The  same  is  true  of  the  other  portraits  in 

1.  At  th»-  'tif]  r,f  thi'  .  r"-ond  volume  of  hiji  oxrpllrnt  rrprint  of  Gib- 
ber'* ApolngT.  Iho  latx!  R.  W.  Lowo'  han  very  «ali«fiirt'*rily  rriToduoid 
Adtong   Brief   Rupplement   (IHSO). 

45 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

the  Brief  Supplement:  they  are  flesh-and-blood 
characters,  this  one  with  a  wry  mouth,  that  with 
a  deformed  shoulder,  a  splay  foot,  a  mole 
marked,  or  pock-fretted  face,  and  so  on.  The 
stories  related  of  the  various  artists  are  relevant 
in  interpreting  their  temperaments,  their  foibles, 
their  benevolences,  their  vanities,  in  brief,  their 
human  qualities.  The  little  brochure  has  its 
faults,  both  of  omission  and  commission;  but 
who  would  alter  it  if  he  could? 

The  Sketch  differs  from  the  Brief  Supple- 
ment in  that  it  is  entirely  autobiographical.  The 
style  is  execrable — in  fact,  it  cannot  be  said  to 
possess  a  style;  but  then,  as  already  pointed  out, 
it  is  nothing  more  than  choppy  notes  jotted 
down  as  the  basis  of  a  more  pretentious  work. 
Rut  if  the  expression  is  not  felicitous,  or  the 
thought  lucid,  or  the  scrappy  facts  lack  ideal- 
ism, we  must  not  forget  that  all  of  this,  after  all, 
is  fairly  reflective  and  characteristic  of  the  man 
himself.  Indeed,  we  thus  learn  more  about 
Tony  Aston  than  if  he  had  embroidered  the 
crude  facts  with  a  pseudo-morality  or  padded 
them  with  a  fictional  heroism.  The  sketch  is  as 
the  man  was,  uncouth,  undeveloped,  devoid  of 
high  aims,  vigorous,  vulgar  and  erratic. 

As  an  actor  Tony  Aston  was  more  the  imi- 
tator and  impersonator  than  the  original  com- 

46 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

edian.  He  was  something  above  the  Bartholo- 
mew Fair  mountebank,  and  was  decidedly  out- 
classed by  the  leading  comedians  of  the  legiti- 
mate stage.  He  had  much  histrionic  ability  but 
lacked  the  originality  to  create  great  comic 
characters.  On  the  other  hand,  while  he  shone 
brightest  in  low,  broad  comedy,  he  chose  for  his 
masters  those  who  were  original  and  pre-emi- 
nent in  their  respective  roles;  and  Aston  was  no 
mean  disciple,  despite  his  over-consciousness  of 
the  fact.  Thus,  for  example,  he  confesses  to 
have  copied  Joe  Haines  the  creator  of  Roger  in 
JEsop,  and  Dogget's  interpretation  of  Fondle- 
wife  in  The  Old  Bachelor.  But  Tony  was  too 
"idle"  and  "unworthy"  (to  use  the  language 
which  he  himself  applied  to  his  youth)  ever  to 
become  thorough  master  of  his  art,  and  this  fact, 
taken  in  conjunction  with  his  ambition  and  na- 
tive ability,  partially  accounts  for  a  versatility 
that  usually  fell  short  of  genuine  achievement  in 
any  line.  It  also  serves  to  explain  his  self-appre- 
ciation in  the  assertion  that  he  "succeeded  in 
many  characters",  on  the  one  hand,  and,  on  the 
other,  the  refusal  of  the  London  managers  to 
see  him  in  that  light.  Lazy  ability  is  fatal  to 
great  results;  industrious  mediocrity  often 
accomplishes  wonders. 

We  are  fortunate  in  having  preserved  for  us 

47 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

a  brief  contemporaneous  estimate  of  Tony  Aston 
as  an  actor,  and  although  the  appreciation  is 
used  for  a  comparison  in  politics,  it  is  none  the 
less  accurate.  In  the  Craftsman  No.  267  (Aug- 
ust 14,  1731),  after  berating  Walpole  for  gath- 
ering unto  himself  the  various  powers  of  the 
government,  followed  by  a  plundering  of  the 
nation,  the  writer  attempts  to  elucidate  his  con- 
tention by  the  following  object  lesson :  ''Tony 
Aston  is  a  Monopolizer  of  this  Kind;  he  plays 
all  Characters;  he  fills  none;  he  is  the  whole 
Comedy  in  his  single  Person;  he  receives,  in- 
deed, the  Salary  of  Proper  Actors,  and  this  is 
poor  Tony's  only  View;  for  his  Plea  is  Neces- 
sity; he  confesses  his  Inability  to  sustain  so  many 
Parts,  and  picks  your  Pocket  of  half  a  Crown, 
with  some  Appearance  of  Modesty;  but  if  he 
should  enter  with  the  Air  of  a  Drawcansir,  and 
swear  that  He  alone  was  fit  to  represent  every 
Character,  that  He  alone  was  fit  to  receive  all 
the  Pay,  and  that  he  would  never  permit  any 
one  else  to  tread  the  Stage,  I  think  he  would  be 
hiss'd  by  the  People". 

Other  characteristics  of  Anthony  Aston, 
which  stand  out  boldly  in  the  Sketch  and  in  the 
Brief  Supplement,  need  no  elaboration  or 
lengthy  comment.  Egotism,  mendicancy,  and 
coarse-mindedness  are  everywhere  shamelessly 
featured;  and  these  were  inherent  faults  of  the 

48 


ANTHOXY    ASTOX 

man,  not  to  be  charged  against  the  "age"  in 
which  he  lived.  Bellchamber,  in  a  fury,  says 
that  Tony  was  "notorious  for  his  frauds,  ignor- 
ance and  audacity".  This  is  the  interpretation 
he  placed  on  Chetwood's  short  account  of  Aston. 
Audacious,  Tony  certainly  was,  but  always  so 
waggishly  so  that  one  is  disposed  to  condone  the 
fault.  As  for  the  charge  of  fraud,  that  is  based 
entirely  on  the  story  related  by  Chetwood  of 
Tony's  cramming  his  trunk  full  of  rubbish  and 
leaving  it  with  his  landlord  as  security  for  an 
unpaid  board  bill,  the  landlord  all  the  while  be- 
lieving that  the  trunk  was  filled  with  a  valuable 
wardrobe  which  he  was  satisfied  would  soon  be 
forfeited  to  him.  That  there  was  deception  on 
Tony's  part  is  beyond  cavil;  but  he  had  no 
other  recourse  in  those  days.  Bellchamber  fails 
to  call  attention  to  the  cupidity  of  the  landlord, 
and  to  the  more  important  fact  that  Aston  re- 
turned as  soon  as  he  was  able  to  do  so  and  paid 
the  landlord  in  full.  A  dishonest  person  would 
not  have  done  that.  Even  when  Tony  was  de- 
pendent outright  on  charity,  he  never  shows  in- 
gratitude, but  always  takes  pains  to  acknowledge 
the  assistance  received,  and  never  speaks  of  a 
benefactor  except  in  the  most  respectful  and  en- 
dearing terms.  Coming  to  the  last  charge,  Aston 
was  not  a  prodigy  of  learning  or  culture,  and 

49 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

his  bad  French  and  smattering  of  Latin,  to  say- 
nothing  of  his  tortured  English,  is  sufficient 
grounds  to  speak  of  him  as  ignorant.  But  then 
there  is  the  shrewdness  and  naivete  of  the  man 
to  balance  the  account.  In  short,  Tony  was  just 
Tony  Aston,  and  we  must  accept  him  and  his 
work  as  they  have  come  to  us,  not  as  we  would 
have  them. 

The  exact  date  of  Anthony  Aston's  birth  is 
not  known,  but  it  was  about  1682.  Of  the  time 
and  place  of  his  death  we  are  even  more  ignor- 
ant. From  internal  evidence,  we  know  that  he 
wrote  his  Brief  Supplement  as  late  as  the  latter 
part  of  1747;  and  Chetwood  states  as  a  belief 
that  he  was  still  alive  and  strolling  in  1749. 
This  half  conjecture  is  significant.  Tony's  mode 
of  living  was  dissociated  from  all  that  gives  to 
home  "a  local  habitation  and  a  name",  and  yet 
he  was  so  well-known  of  all  men  and  so  common 
withal,  that  he  had  come  to  be  a  memory,  though 
still  alive!  I  know  not  what  Parish  Clerk  re- 
corded his  death.  He  emulated  greater  actors 
than  himself,  notably,  Thomas  Dogget,  and 
claimed  superiority  over  Colley  Gibber  in  cer- 
tain characters;  he  probably  caused  more  people 
to  forget  life's  tribulations  for  a  brief  hour  than 
most  men  who  trod  the  stage  in  his  time. 


50 


DESIGN 


A 

SKETCH 

OF      THE 

LIFE,  &c. 

OF 

MR.  ANTHONY  ASTON 

Commnnly  cclfd  TONY  ASTON 
Wriltcn  hy  Himxlf     -     ■     Now  ALL  ALIVE 

51 


ANTHONY    ASTON 


NTENDING  hereafter  to  write  my 
HISTORY  at  large,  I  now  oblige 
my  Printer  with  this  cursory 
Touch,  in  order  to  make  him  come 
dou-fi  handsomely  for  what  will  be 
anon.  I  have  often  been  in  the  mind  to  commit 
some  criminal  Fact,  on  purpose  to  oblige  him 
with  my  Dying  Speech;  but  as  I  consider'd  he 
would  ^et  more  by  my  LIFE,  I  was  resolved 
to  continue  Honest  and  Merry:  so,  ad  rem  at 

once. 

My  merry  Hearts, 

You  are  to  know  me  as  a  Gentleman,  Lawyer, 
Poet.  Actor,  Soldier,  Sailor,  Exciseman,  Publi- 
can; in  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  Neiv-York, 
East  and  IF  est  Jersey,  Maryland,  (Virginia  on 
both  sides  Cheesapeek,)  North  and  South  Caro- 
lina, South  Florida.  Bahama's,  Jamaica,  His- 
paniola,  and  often  a  Coaster  by  all  the  same;  like 
the  Signs  of  the  Ahlatirc  Case,  in,  through, 
with,  for,  from,  and  by;  for  I  been  in  'em, 
travell'd  through  'em,  paid  for  'cm,  come  off 

genteely    from    'cm,    and    liv'd     hy    'cm.     

Well,  hold; for  I'll  clear  as  1  go  —  My 

Father  was  Richard  .Iston,  F]s(] ;  Principal  of 
f'urnirals-Inn,  and  Secretary  of  the  King's- 
Bench  Office;  of  Staffordshire  Extraction,  and 
liv'd   in   Broohi's   Market;  nnd,   tho'   ;i    Lawyer, 

hi 


AXTHOXY    ASTOX 

liv'd  and  dy'd  an  honest  Man;  whose  Place  has 
not  been  better  officiated  since.  My  Mother  was 
Daughter  of  Col.  Cope  of  Drummelly-Castle  in 
the  County  of  Armagh,  in  the  Kingdom  of  Ire- 
land. As  for  my  Relations  every  where,  I  don't 
care  a  Groat  for  'em,  which  is  just  the  Price  they 
set  upon  me.  I  had  my  Grammatical  Educa- 
tion at  my  beloved  town  of  Tamworth  in  Staf- 
fordshire, tho'  I  had  a  previous  Tincture  of 
Whims  by  one  Ramsay,  who  first  innoculated 
the  Itch,  and  also  good  Latin. —  Of  my  innocent 
Pranks  and  mercural  Disposition  there,  I  must 
forbear  'till  my  Volume  is  extant;  also  of  the 
early  Seeds  of  Whim  which  push'd  out  in  my 

Infant  Puerility.  1  was  an  unworthy,  idle, 

unlucky  clerk,  first  to  Mr.  Randal  of  the  Six- 
Clerks-Office;  after  that  transplanted  to  that  in- 
comparable Man  Mr.  Paul  Jodrel,  and  I  still 
preserved  my  Mercurials,  as  much  as  he  his 
indefatigable  ingenious  Industry:  Instead  of 
copying  Bills,  Answers,  &c.  I  was  prone  to  mak- 
ing Verses,  reading  Plays;  and,  instead  of  going 
to  proper  Offices,  I  went  to  see  Dogget  make 
comical  Faces  in  the  last  two  Acts:  This  you 
must  think  gave  me  a  Taste  of  the  Girls,  and 
which    I    am   afraid   I    shall   never    leave    ofif. 

Well! Farewel  Lawyer  for  the  present. 

A  Poet  I  commenc'd  at  seven  Years  old,  but 
54 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

a  Burlesque  one,  as  thus,  writing  in  Praise  of 
Peace,  shows: 

One  in  a  Fight,  when  standing  at  his  Ease, 
Did  boldly  eat  a  piece  of  Bread  and  Cheese; 
His  Fellow  ask'd  him  for  a  little  Crumb, 
Tho'  not  so  big  as  Supernaculum; 
The  greedy  Dog  deny'd:  why  should  he  grudge 

it? 
He  had  above  a  Peck  within  his  Budget: 
But   while   his   Hand  cramyn'd   meat   into    his 

Gullet, 
His  Mouth  receiv'd  a  spightful  leaden  Bullet: 
Now  Bread  and   Cheese   lies  trampled  on   the 

Ground, 
And  such  another  Piece  can  ne'er  be  found; 
So  I'm  resolv'd  I  never  War  will  make, 
But  e'er  keep  Peace  for  Bread  and  Cheese's  sake. 

Says  my  School-master,  Antrobus,  Give  Aston 
nothing  but  Bread  and  Cheese  these  three  Days. 

As  for  an  Actor,  it  needs  no  Description: 

I  wish  his  Majesty  would  order  me  to  contend  in 
my  Way,  I  would  venture  Shame  and  the  odd 

Hits.    I  am  obliged  to  appear  thus  vain, 

because  of  the  many  repulses.  Shams,  and  male- 
Treatment  I  have  received  from  those  in  Power. 

Now  for  the  Soldier; 1  took  Delight  in 

obliging  my  F'ricnd  Serjeant  Callow,  whenever 


ANTHONY   ASTON 

General  (then  Colonel)  PVightman  muster'd, 
which  was  in  my  Father's  Life-Time;  and  I 
mention  that,  because  the  World  knew  my 
Father's  Income,  and  that  it  was  a  sprightly 
Novelty  of  mine,  .and  no  mean  Recourse.  The 
Use  of  the  Manuals,  &c.  was  advantageous  to  me 
in  foreign  Parts,  among  the  Careolians,  Flori- 
dans,  and  Carolinians;  of  which  in  my  Volume 
at  large. 

The  Sailor  was  indeed  more  caught  as  my 
Delight,  and  sometimes  compulsive,  when 
wreck'd,  or  urg'd  by  the  different  rumaging  of 
other  Matters  I  was  capable  of,  when  Martial 
Law  was  in  Force,  and  the  Courts  of  Justice 
were  silent.  I  can  say  by  Sailing,  as  Hamlet 
does  when  the  Wind  is  North  East,  I  know  a 
'Hawk  from  a  Hand-saw;  and,  in  plain  Terms, 
I  acknowledge  I  know  not  much,  affect  a  little 
of  every  Thing  (except  Acting  Prologue,  &c. 
writing  and  Face-making,  and  singing  them 
with  any  Man. 

I  would  not  have  you  think  that  I  mention 
being  an  Exciseman  as  a  Credit  to  me;  no,  to 
screen  that,  I  once  pass'd  for  a  Corn-Cutter: 
And  yet  could  I  see  a  Lady  of  a  Thousand  a 
Year,  of  a  triangular  Form,  I  know  how  to  drop 
a  Perpindicular  upon  her;  know  the  perfect 
Use  of  my  sliding  Rule;  how  to  take  my  Gage 

56 


ANTHONY   ASTON 

in  the  middle  of  Inches,  and  not  to  put  a  false 
Diameter  under  a  fix'd  Utensil;  but  no  more  of 
that 

Now  for  the  Blue  Flag:  I  was  always  for 
the  Nick  and  Froth;  and  altho'  it  is  a  copious 
Subject  to  run  Bams  on,  I  say  no  more,  but  that 
I  kept  an  elegant  Tavern  on  the  Parade  at  Ports- 
mouth, where  1  was  generously  used  by  the 
worthy  Corporation,  Officers,  and  others,  and 
there  might  have  continued,  had  some  of  my 
Family  proved  honest. 

Well;  when  I  came  from  my  Master  J /, 

I  went  into  the  Old  Play-house,  and  succeeded 
in  many  Characters;  went  over  into  Ireland;  re- 
turned; travell'd  with  Mr.  Cash,  Dogget, 
Booker,  Mins;  and  then  embarqued  a  Passenger 
with  Capt.  JValters  in  the  Diligence  for  Jama- 
ica, who  put  me  in  Irons,  because  one  Betty 
Green  (who  went  by  the  Name  of  Pritchard, 
and  was  married  to  a  Gentleman  of  Lincolns- 
Inn,  and  had  a  Thousand  Pounds  g-iven  her  to 
quit  him)  would  not  remember  or  take  Notice 
of  me,  because  she  had  a  great  Cargo  on  board; 
but  the  Captain  paid  dear  for  it  aftenvards:  \Vc 
were  eleven  Weeks  before  we  made  the  Disse- 
ado,  buried  no  Passengers.  1  took  to  the  Law, 
having  a  good  Friend  there,  who  help'd  me  to  a 
Study  of  Books  of  Mr.  Scarlet's  of  Kings-town. 

57 


.       ANTHONY   ASTON 

I  got  Money,  kept  my  Horse,  livM  gay,  boarded 
at  my  Widows,  pay'd  all  ofif;  when  Governor 
Sehoyn  invited  me  to  bear  Arms  in  his  Regi- 
ment as  a  Cadet.  I  had  my  own  frank  Practice 
of  the  Law  and  Quarters,  and,  as  is  well  known, 
kept  Company  with  the  best  of  the  Island.  The 
Governor's  Death  made  me  quit  the  same;  be- 
cause, altho'  it  is  known  to  the  surviving  Officers 
I  should  have  had  the  first  vacant  Commission, 
yet  the  succeeding  Governor,  Mr.  H — d — e 
neither  lov'd  me,  nor  Mr.  Keyting,  both  Cadets 
and  Gamesters.  I  had  my  Certificate  from  Sec- 
retary Nichols;  embarqued  on  Board  the  Dili- 
gence of  London,  Capt.  Wild;  and,  altho'  we 
came  to  the  Windward  Passage,  was  Cast-away 
in  the  Gulph,  on  the  South  Sand  ofif  Port-Royal 
Harbour,  twenty  Leagues  Southward  of  the 
Harbour  of  Charles-Town  in  South  Carolina; 
but  the  Manner  and  Horror  of  that  is  inexpress- 

'ble  in  this  Abstract: We  were  saved  by 

a  Bermudas  Sloop  (that  heard  our  plaintive 
Guns)  in  Port-Royal  Harbour,  where  Governor 
Moore  anchor'd,  in  the  Beginning  of  Queen 
Anne's  Reign,  with  a  small  Fleet  design'd 
against  St.  Augustine.  I  (after  being  plunder'd 
by  the  Bermudians) ,  was  carry'd  to  him,  con- 
doled, treated,  and  went  with  him  to  Augustine; 
where  of  the  Fort,  its  Harbour,  Platform,  my 

58 


ANTHONY   ASTON 

Commissions,  the  Reinforcement  of  the  Span- 
iards from  Havanna,  of  their  Blocking-up  the 
Harbour,  burning  our  own  Vessels,  Fatigue  of 
Travelling,  of  the  Indians,  Hunger,  burning  Tow- 
ers, and  other  surprizing  Accidents,  will  be  at 
large  described  in  a  Volume.  —  Well,  we  arriv'd 
in  Charles-Town,  full  of  Lice,  Shame,  Poverty, 

Nakedness  and  Hunger:    I  turned  Player 

and  Poet,  and  wrote  one  Play  on  the  Subject  of 
the  Country;  —  and  I  then  had  a  Commission  of 
Lieutenant  of  their  Guards  given  me  by  the 
Governor  Sir  Nathaniel  Johnson,  which  Com- 
mission being  too  much  superintended  and  in- 
sulted by  one  Heme,  my  Captain,  that  formerly 
rode  in  the  Life-Guards,  I  laid  it  down;  since 
he  caus'd  me  to  do  that  Duty  he  was  to  Relieve 
every  other  Night;  and  the  Governor  taking  his 
Part,  —  I  embarqu'd  on  Board  a  Sloop  of  95 
Tun,  one  Reynolds,  Master,  for  Corotuc,  or  A''. 
Carolina. — Off  Cape-fear  had  the  wind  at  N. 
IV.,  a  frightful  Storm;  we  scudded  with  bare 
Poles  a-fore  the  Wind,  when  I  was  lash'd  to  the 
Helm  to  steer  for  twelve  Hours  (a  long  and  ter- 
rible Description  :)  Well, our  Vessel  was  knocked 
nil  to  pieces,  as  were  all  the  Clothes  wash'd  off 
mc;  1  was  cast  a-shore  in  the  River  Stone,  and 
was  relieved  by  Mr.  Allen,  who  cloth'd  me,  and 
honest  /Ihraham  ITaif/hls  fed  me  for  a  Month. 

59 


AXTHOXV    ASTOX 

1  went  again  to  Charles-Toivn,  and  got  a  frank 
Passage  for  New-York  on  board  a  sloop  of  Wes- 
sel  IFessels,  Cobus  Kirkstead,  Master;  but  being 
in  November,  the  Nor-wesfers  blew  us  from  the 
New-York  coast.  As  soon  as  we  snufif'd  the 
Land,  which  after  nine  Days  Boxing,  we  were 
glad  to  gain  the  Capes  of  Virginia,  put  into  Lit- 
tle Moni,  hired  a  Boat  cross  the  Bay  into  N anti- 
coke  River, was  courteously  entertain'd  by 

one  Hickes,  an  Indian  Justice  of  Peace  and  a 
Quaker;  he  was  a  Convict,  and  one  of  Whitney's 

gang,  married  his  Mistress   (a  Widow:) 

He  lent  me,  Dick  Oglethorp  and  Lew  en,  (both 
Passengers)  Horses  to  Newcastle  in  Philadel- 
phia. We  lay  at  Story's  —  enjoy'd  —  rode 
through  Elizabeth-Town,  and  so  in  the  Packet 

to  New-York.  There  I  lighted  of  my  old 

Acquaintance  Jack   Charlton,   F'encing-Master, 

and  Counsellor    Reignieur,    sometime    of 

Lincolns-Inn,  supply'd  me  with  Business  


'till  I  had  the  honour  of  being  acquainted  with 
that  brave,  honest,  unfortunate  Genleman,  Capt. 
Henry  Pullein,  whose  Ship  (the  Fame)  was 
burnt  in  the  Bermudas;  he   (to  the  best  of  his 

Ability)   assisted  me so  that  after  acting, 

writing,  courting,  fighting  that  Winter My 

kind  Captain  Davis,  in  his  Sloop  built  a.t  Rhode, 
gave  me  free  Passage  for    Virgina,   where  the 

60 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

noble  Governor  Nicholson  treated  me  hand- 
somely till  the  Fleet  under  Commodore  Evans 
in  the  Dreadnought  with  Oxford,  Falkland, 
Foy,  &c.  convoy'd  about  500  Sail  out  of  the 
Capes.  The  generous  Captain  Pulman,  Master 
of  the  Hunter  Hag-boat  of  London,  gave  me  my 
Passage  Home,  and  dear    Captain   Pullen    my 

Punch  and  Extraordinaries The  Foy  was 

taken  by  a  St.  Malo  Fleet,  fitted  out  to  intercept 
us,  which  bare  down,  yet  soon  tack'd  and  went 
of.  Next  Day,  Captain  Underdoivn  took  the 
Quebeck  Ship  from  Bourdeaux.    We  arriv'd  in 

the   Downs   in   August up   to   London  — 

marry'd  a  Bartholomeiv-Fa.ir  Lady so  be- 
ing disappointed  by  Colonel  Salisbury,  with 
whom  I  had  enter'd  on  Promise  of  the  first  Com- 
mission that  fell,  when  his  Detachment  went  to 
Portugal. Continued  up  and  down  in  Eng- 
land, Scotland,  Ireland,  acting  'till  I  set  up  my 
MEDLEY sometimes  increasing,  some- 
times decreasing  in  Circumstance;  Hopes, 
Friends,  Patience and  still  have  liv'd  hand- 
somely by  God's  Providence  Force  of  my 

undaunted  Genius  For,  look'ee  Brethren, 

it  is  appointed  for  all  Men  once  to  die,  and  (as 
Adrastus  says)  Who  would  grieve  for  that 
which  in  a  Day  must  pass? and  again, 

61 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

Whose  Knowledge  from  the  Depth  of  Wisdom 
Springs, 

Nor  vainly  fears  inevitable  Things. 

If  the  Sun  shines  by  Day,  and  the  Stars  by  Night 

&c. — Life's  a  Bite You  have  it,  have  you? 

—  The  Wise  liv'd  Yesterday  —  You  snotty  Dab 
of  a  Puritan!  —  Sling  your  Gob,  and  sob  your 
Guts  out  —  It's  all  a-Case,  there's  still  a  Hole 

in  my  Kettle  Ay,  but  says  another,  Why 

rie  get  another  shall  contradict  him and 

another   him  Mankind    are    all    Quakers; 

there's  no  convincing  of  'em  Let  me  see 

you  laugh  now!  Why  look  at  me:  Ha!  ha! 
ha!  There  are  but  two  sorts  of  men.  Scaramouch 
and  Harlequin.    If  you're  grave,  you're  a  Fool; 

if  trifling,  you're  a  Fool:  Ergo,  You're  a 

Fool;  be  what  you  will! Is  that  Logic  or 

no?  I'll  bring  a  Clown  from  the  Plough 

shall  talk  better. 

'Tis  silly,  that  People  can't  like  a  Thing  un- 
less they  know  the  Name   on't.  Hamlet's 

Munchin  Maligo,  is  a  better  Answer  than  any 

other  to  so  trifling  a  Querist.  What  then, 

say  you,  we  are  not  to  be  banter'd  by  a  frothy 
Fellow,  and  lay  out  our  Money  for  such  Stuff. — 
Why,  do  not  be  angry,  Friend:  If  I  mock  you 
with  your  own  Face  and  Gesture,  then  you'll 

62 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

see  what  a  Fool  you  are. That  makes  Com- 
edies   useful.    Come,    laugh    again    now: 

Why  you  came  crying  into  the  World;  go  out 
laughing,  do  Jack,  for  Variety's  Sake —  What! 

you're  asham'd  to  look  such  an  Ass. Come, 

frown  and  strain  hard,  as  if  you  were  at  Stool, 

and  look  like  a  Lion. There's  a  brave  Boy! 

you  shall  be  Captain  of  the  Train-bands.  

I'll  wait  on  you  to  Morrow  about  Dinner-time 

and,  'till  then, 

/  am  your  humble  Servant, 

A.  ASTON. 


63 


W.  R.  CHETWOOD'S  SKETCH 


—OF- 


ANTHONY  ASTON 


From  A  General  History  of  the  Sta^e 
(1749) 


6$ 


From  Chetwood's  General  History  of  the  Stage 

(1749) 
Mr.  ANTHONY  ASTON,  commonly  called 

TONY. 

This  Person  was  bred  an  Attorney  in  Eng- 
land; but,  having  a  smattering  of  Wit  and  Hu- 
mour, he  left  the  Study  of  the  Law  for  Parts  on 
the  Stage.    He  strain'd  forth  a  Comedy  which 
was   acted  on  the  Theatre  in  Smock-alley,  call'd 
Love  in  a  Hurry,  but  with  no  Success.  He  play'd 
in  all  the  Theatres  in  London,  but  never  con- 
tinued long  in  any;  his  Way  of  living  was  pecul- 
iar to  himself  and  Family,  resorting  to  the  prin- 
cipal Cities  and    Towns  in   England   with    his 
Medlev,  as  he  call'd  it,  which  consisted  of  some 
capital  Scenes  of  Humour  out  of  the  most  cele- 
brated Plays.      His    Company   were   generally 
composed    of    his    own    Family,     himself,    his 
Wife     and     Son;     between     every     Scene,     a 
Song   or    Dialogue    of    his    own    Composition, 
fiird    up    the    Chinks    of    the  slender    Meal. 
He    pretended    a    Right    to    every    Town    he 
entered;    and     if    a    Company    came    to    any 
Place  where  he  exhibited  his  Compositions,  he 
would  use  all  his  Art  to  evacuate  the  Place  of 

07 


ANTHONY   ASTON 

these  Interlopers,  as  he  called  them.  He  was 
never  out  of  his  Way ;  or  if  he  met  with  a  sightly 
House  when  he  was  Itinerant,  he  would  soon 
find  the  Name,  Title,  and  Circumstances  of  the 
Family,  curry  them  over  with  his  humorous 
Verse,  and  by  that  means  get  something  to  bear 
his  Charges  to  his  next  Station.  His  Finances, 
like  those  of  Kingdoms,  were  sometimes  at  the 
Tide  of  Flood,  and  often  at  low  Ebb.  In  one, 
where  his  Stream  had  left  the  Chanel  dry,  yet 
ready  to  launch  out  on  a  trading  Voyage  without 
a  Cargo,  or  Provision,  he  called  up  his  Land- 
lord, to  whom  there  was  something  due,  told 
him  of  his  Losses  in  his  present  Voyage,  and 
being  sent  for  to  another  Place,  desired  he 
would  lend  him  a  small  Sum  upon  his  Ward- 
robe (which  he  shew'd  him  in  a  large  Box)  ten 
times  the  Value  of  the  Debt  owing,  or  the  Sum 
borrow'd.  The  honest  Landlord,  seeing  a  proper 
Security,  easily  comply'd,  gave  him  the  Sum  de- 
manded, lock'd  up  the  Trunk,  put  the  Key  in 
his  Pocket,  and  retired.  But  as  no  Vessel  can 
make  a  Voyage  without  Sails,  and  other  proper 
Materials,  he  had  contriv'd  a  false  bottom  to 
this  great  Box,  took  out  the  Stuffing,  and  by  De- 
grees, sent  of  his  Wardrobe  by  his  Emissaries, 
unperceiv'd.  And  that  the  Weight  should  not 
detect  him,  he  filled  up  the  void  with  Cabbage- 

68 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

Stocks, Bricks  and  Stones  cloath'd  in  Rags  to  pre- 
vent moving,  when  the  Vehicle  was  to  be  taken 
the  next  Morning  into  the  Landlord's  Custody. 
Everything  succeeded  to  his  Wish,  and  away 
went  Tony,  but  far  wide  of  the  Place  mentioned 
to  mine  Host.  A  Week  was  the  stated  time  of 
Redemption,  which  the  Landlord  saw  elapse 
with  infinite  Satisfaction  (for  he  had  a  Bill  of 
Sale  of  the  Contents  in  the  Trunk)  ;  he  openM 
it  with  great  Pleasure;  but  when  he  saw  the  fine 
Lining!  he  was  motionless,  like  a  Statue  carv'd 
by  a  bungling  Hand.  He  had  recourse  to  Re- 
venge. A  Bailiff  with  proper  Directions  was 
sent  to  the  Place  mentioned;  but  if  he  had  dis- 
covered the  least  Wit  in  his  Anger,  he  might 
have  thought  Tony  knew  better  than  to  tell  him 
the  Truth.  I  only  mention  this  little  Story,  to 
let  the  Reader  know  the  Shifts  the  Itinerant 
Gentry  are  sometimes  put  to.  For  Tony,  when 
his  Finances  were  in  Order,  and  cur'd  of  the 
Consumption,  honestly  paid  him.  1  have  had 
this  Tale  both  from  Tony  and  the  Landlord, 
who  then  kept  the  Black-Boy  Inn  at  Chelmsford 
in  Essex. 

If  Tony  by  chance  ever  came  to  a  Town 
where  a  Company  of  Shoivmen  (as  People  oft 
call  them)  had  got  in  before  him,  he  presently 
declared  War  with  them;  and  his  general  Con- 

69 


ANTHONY   ASTON 

ditions  of  Peace  were,  that  they  should  act  a 
Play  for  his  Benefit,  that  he  might  leave  the 
Seige,  and  march  with  his  small  Troop  to  some 
other  Place.  And  as  he  was  a  Person  of  Hu- 
mour, and  a  proper  Assurance,  he  generally, 
like  a  Cat,  skimm'd  off  the  fat  Cream,  and  left 
the  lean  Milk  to  those  that  stay'd  behind.  I  be- 
lieve he  is  Travelling  still,  and  is  as  well  known 
in  every  Town  as  the  Post-Horse  that  carries  the 
Mail.  He  shall  make  his  Exit  with  the  follow- 
ing two  Lines: 

//  various  Dealers  the  same  Goods  exhibit. 
They  wish  each  other  dangling  on  a  Gibbet. 


70 


TONY  ASTON'S 


BRIEF  SUPPLEMENT  TO 


COLLEY  GIBBER'S 


APOLOGY 


71 


A    BRIEF 
SUPPLEMENT 

TO 

COLLEY  CIBBER,  Esq. 

HIS 
LIVES 

Of    the    late    FAMOUS 
ACTORS    and    ACTRESSES 


SI  TU  SCIS,  MELIOR  EGO 


By   ANTHONY 
Vul^o    TONY 


ASTON 


Printed  for  the  AVTHOK- 
73 


ANTHONY   ASTON 


R.  CIBBER  is  guilty  of  Omission 
that  he  hath  not  given  us  any  De- 
scription of  the  several  Personages' 
Beauties  or  Faults — Faults  {I  say) 
of  the  several  ACTORS,  &c.  for 
Nemo  sine  crimine  vivit. 

Or,  as  the   late  Duke  of  Buckingham   says   of 
Characters,  that,  to  shew  a  Man  not  defective, 

were  to  draw 

A  faultless  Monster,  that  the  World  ne'er  saw. 


74 


A    BRIEF 

SUPPLEMENT 

TOCOLLEY  CIBBER,  Esq;  his 

LIVES 

Of  the  late  Famous 

ACTORS    and    ACTRESSES. 


R.  BETTERON  (although  a  sup- 
erlative good  Actor)  labour'd  under 
ill  Figure,  being  clumsily  made, 
having  a  great  Head,  a  short  thick 
Neck,  stoop'd  in  the  Shoulders,  and 
had  fat  short    Arms,    which    he    rarely    lifted 

higher  than  his  Stomach.  His  Left  Hand 

frequently   lodg'd   in   his   Breast,    between   his 
Coat  and  Waistcoat,  while,  with  his  Right,  he 

prepared  his  Speech. His  Actions  were  few, 

but  just. He  had  little  Eyes,  and  a  broad 

Face,  a  little  Pock-fretten,  a    corpulent    Body, 

and  thick  Legs,  with   large  Feet. He  was 

better  to  meet,  than  to  follow;  for  his  Aspect  was 
serious,   venerable,    and    majestic;  in  his   latter 

Time  a  little  Paralytic. His  Voice  was  low 

and  grumbling;  yet  he  could  Time  it  by  an  art- 
ful Climax,  which  enforced  universal  Attention, 

75 


ANTHONY   ASTON 

even  from  the  Fops  and  Orange-Girls. He 

was  incapable  of  dancing,  even  in  a  Country- 
Dance;  as  was  Mrs.  BARRY :  But  their  good 
Qualities  were  more  than  equal  to  their  Defic- 
iencies.     While    Mrs.    BRACEGIRDLE 

sung  very  agreeably  in  the  LOVES  of  Mars  and 
Venus,  and  danced  in  a  Country-Dance,  as  well 
as  Mr.  WILKS,  though  not  with  so  much  Art 
and  Foppery,  but  like  a  well-bred  Gentleman. 

Mr.    Betterton    was    the    most    extensive 

Actor,  from  Alexander  to  Sir  John  Falstaff ;  but 
in  that  last  Character,  he  wanted  the  Waggery 
of  EST  COURT,  the  Drollery  of  HARPER, 

and  Sallaciousness  of  JACK  EVANS But, 

then,  Estcourt  was  too  trifling;  Harper  had  too 
much  of  the  Bartholomeiv-Fair ;  and  Evans  mis- 

place'd  his   Humour. Thus,  you  see  what 

Flaws  are  in  bright  Diamonds: And  I  have 

often  wish'd  that  Mr.  Betterton  would  have  re- 
sign'd  the  Part  of  HAMLET  to  some  young 
Actor,  (who  might  have  Personated,  though  not 
have  Acted,  it  better)  for,  when  he  threw  him- 
self at  Ophelia's  Feet,  he  appear'd  a  little  too 
grave  for  a  young  Student,  lately  come  from  the 
University  of  JVirtemberg;  and  his  Repartees 
seem'd  rather  as  Apopthegms  from  a  sage  Phil- 
osopher, than  the  sporting  Flashes  of  a  young 
HAMLET;  and  no  one  else  could  have  pleas'd 

76 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

the  Town,  he  was  so  rooted  in  their  Opinion. 
His  younger  Cotemporary,  {Betterton  63,  Powel 
40,  Years  old)  POJVELL,  attempted  several  of 
Retterton's  Parts,  as  Alexander,  Jaffier,  &c.  but 
lost  his  Credit;  as,  in  Alexander,  he  maintain'd 
not  the  Diginty  of  a  King,  but  Out-Heroded 
HEROD;  and  in  his  poison'd  mad  Scene,  out- 
rav'd  all  Probability ;  while  Betterton  kept  his 
Passion  under,  and  shew'd  it  most  (as  Fume 
smoaks  most,  when  stifled)  Betterton,  from  the 
Time  he  was  dress'd,  to  the  End  of  the  Play, 
kept  his  Mind  in  the  same  Temperament  and 
Adaptness,   as   the   present  Character  required. 

If  I  was  to  write  of  him  all  Day,  I  should 

still  remember  fresh  Matter  in  his  Behalf;  and, 
before  I  part  with  him,  suffer  this  facetious 
Story  of  him,  and  a  Country  Tenant  of  his. 

Mr.  Betterton  had  a  small  Farm  near  Read- 
ing, in  the  County  of  Berks;  and  the  Country- 
man came,  in  the  Time  of  Bartholomew-Fair,  to 

pay  his  Rent. Mr.  Betterton  took  him  to  the 

F^air,  and  going  to  one  Crawley's  Puppet-Shew, 
offer'd  Two  Shillings  for  himself  and  Roger, 
his  Tennant. —  No.  no,  Sir,  said  Crawley;  we 
never  take  Money  of  one  another.  This  affronted 
Mr.  Betterton,  who  threw  down  the  money,  and 
they  enter'd.  —  Roger  was  hugeously  diverted 
with  Punch,  and  bred  a  great  Noise;  saying,  that 

77 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

he  would  drink  with  him,  for  he  was  a  merry 
Fellow.  —  Mr.  Betterton  told  him,  he  was  only 
a  Puppet,  made  up  of  Sticks  and  Rags:  How- 
ever, Roger  still  cried  out,  that  he  would  go  and 

drink  with  Punch. When  Master  took  him 

behind,  where  the  Puppets  hung  up,  he  swore, 

he  thought  Punch  had  been  alive. However, 

said  he,  though  he  be  but  Sticks  and  Rags,  I'll 

give  him  Six-pence  to  drink  my  Health, At 

Night,  Mr.  Betterton  went  to  the  Theatre,  when 
was  play'd  the  ORPHAN;  Mr.  Betterton  act- 
ing Castalio;  Mrs.   Bnrry,  Monimia Well 

(said  Master)   how  dost  like  this  Play,  Roger? 

Why,  I  don't  know  (says  Roger)  It's  well 

enough  for  Sticks  and  Rags. 

To  end  with  this  Phoenix  of  the  Stage,  I 
must  say  of  him,  as  Hamlet  does  of  his  Father: 
He  was  a  Man  (take  him  for  all  in  all)  I  can- 
not look  upon  his  like  again. 

His  Favourite,  Mrs.  BARRY ,  claims  the  next 
in  i^stimation.    They  were  both  never  better 

pleas'd,    than    in     Playing   together. Mrs. 

Barry  out-shin'd  Mrs.  Bracegirdle  in  the  Char- 
acter of  ZARA  in  the  Mourning  Bride,  altho' 
Mr.  Conyreve  design'd  Almeria  for  that  Fa- 
vour.   And  yet,  this  fine  Creature  was  not 

handsome,  her  Mouth  op'ning  most  on  the  Right 

78 


ANTHONY   ASTON 

Side,  which  she  strove  to  draw  t'other  Way,  and, 
at  Times,  composing  her  Face,  as  if  sitting  to 

have  her  Picture  drawn. Mrs.  Barry  was 

middle-siz'd,  and  had  darkish  Hair,  light  Eyes, 
dark  Eyebrows  and  was  inifferently  plump: — 
Her  Face  somewhat  preceded  her  Action,  as  the 
latter  did  her  Words,  her  Face  ever  expressing 
the  Passions;  not  like  the  Actresses  of  late 
Times,  who  are  afraid  of  putting  their  Faces 
out  of  the  Form  of  Non-meaning,  lest  they 
should  crack  the  Cerum,  White-Wash,  or  other 
Cosmetic,  trowl'd  on.  Mrs.  Barry  had  a  Man- 
ner of  drawing  out  her  Words,  which  became 
her,  but  not  Mrs.  Braidshaw,  and  Mrs.  Porter, 
(Successors.) To  hear  her  speak  the  follow- 
ing Speech  in  the  ORPHAN,  was  a  Charm: 

I'm  ne'er  so  well  pleas'd  as  when  I  hear  thee 

speak, 
And  listen  to  the  Music  of  thy  Voice. 

And  ae^ain : 

Who's  he  that  speaks  with  a  Voice  so  sweet. 
As  the  Shepherd  pipes  upon  the  Mountains, 
JVhen  all  his  little  Flock  are  gath'rinf/  round 
him? 

Neither  she,  nor  any  of  the  Actors  of  those 
Times,  had  any  Tone  in    their    speaking,    (too 

79 


ANTHONY   ASTON 

much,  lately,  in  Use). In  Tragedy  she  was 

solemn  and  august  —  in  Free  Comedy  alert, 
easy,  and  genteel  —  pleasant  in  her  Face  and 
Action;  filling  the  Stage  with  variety  of  Ges- 
ture.   She  was  Woman  to  Lady  Shelton,  of 

Norfolk    (my   Godmother)    when    Lord 

Rochester  took  her  on   the   Stage;  where,  for 

some  Time  they  could  make  nothing  of  her. 

She  could  neither  sing,  nor  dance,  no,  not  in  a 
Country-Dance. 

Mrs.  BRACEGIRDLE,  that  Diana  of  the 
Stage,    hath   many    Places    contending  for  her 

Birth The  most  received  Opinion  is,   that 

she  was  the  Daughter  of  a  Coachman,  Coach- 
maker,  or  Letter-out  of  Coaches,  in  the  Town  of 

Northampton. But  I  am  inclinable  to  my 

Father's  Opinion,  (who  had  a  great  Value  for 
her  reported  Virtue)  that  she  was  a  distant  Rela- 
tion, and  came  out  of  Staffordshire,  from  about 

Walsal,  or  JV olverhampton. She  had  many 

Assailants  on  her  Virtue,  as  Lord  Lovelace,  Mr. 
Congreve,  the  last  of  which  had  her  Company 
most;  but  she  ever  resisted  his  vicious  Attacks, 
and,  yet,  was  always  uneasy  at  his  leaving  her; 
on  which  Observation  he  made  the  following 
Song: 

PIOUS  Celinda  goes  to  Pray'rs, 
Whene'er  I  ask  the  Favour; 


ANTHONY   ASTON 

Yet,  the  tender  Fool's  in  Tears, 
When  she  believes  I'll  leave  her. 

Woud  I  were  free  from  this  Restraint, 
Or  else  had  Power  to  win  her! 

Woud  she  coud  make  of  me  a  Saint, 
Or  I  of  her  a  Sinner! 

And,  as  Mr.  Durfey  alludes  to  it  in  his  Puppet 
Song  in  Doti  Quixot, 

Since  that  our  Fate  intends 

Our  Amity  shall  be  no  dearer 
Still  let  us  kiss  and  be  Friends, 

And  sigh  we  shall  never  come  tiearer. 

She  was  very  shy  of  Lord  Lovelace's  Com- 
pany, as  being  an  engaging  man,  who  drest  well : 
And  as,  every  Day,  his  Servant  came  to  her,  to 
ask  her  how  she  did,  she  always  return'd  her 
Answer  in  the  most  obeisant  Words  and  Be- 
haviour,   That    she    was    indifferent    well,    she 

humbly  thank'd  his  Lordship. She  was  of  a 

lovely  Height,  with  dark-brown  Hair  and  Eye- 
brows, black  sparkling  Eyes,  and  a  fresh  blushy 
Complexion ;  and,  whenever  she  exerted  her- 
self, had  an  involuntary  Flushing  in  her  Breast, 
Neck  and  Face,  having  continually  a  chearful 
Aspect,  and  a  fine  Set  of  even  white  Teeth ;  never 
making  an  Exit, hui  that  she  left  the  Audience  in 
an  Imitation  of  her  pleasant  Countenance.   Gen- 

81 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

teel  Comedy  was  her  chief  Essay,  and  that  too 
when  in  Men's  Cloaths,  in  which  she  far  sur- 
mounted all  the  Actresses  of  that  and  this  Age. 

Yet,  she  had  a  Defect  scarce  perceptible, 

viz.,  her  right  Shoulder  a  little  protended, 
which,  when  in  Men's  Cloaths,  was  cover'd  by  a 

long  or  Campaign  Peruke. She  was  finely 

shap'd,  and  had  very  handsome  Legs  and  Feet; 
and  her  Gait,  or  V/alk,  was  free,  manlike,  and 
modest,  when  in  Breeches.  Her  Virtue  had  its 
Reward,  both  in  Applause  and  Specie;  for  it 
happen'd,  that  as  the  Dukes  of  Dorset  and  Dev- 
onshire, Lord  Hallifax,  and  other  Nobles,  over 
a  Bottle,  were  all  extolling  Mrs.  Brae egir die's 
virtuous  Behaviour,  Come,  says  Lord  Hallifax 
— You  all  commend  her  Virtue,  &c.  but  why  do 
we  not  present  this  incomparable  Woman  with 
something  worthy  her  Acceptance?  His  Lord- 
ship deposited  200  Guineas,  which  the  rest  mads 
up  800,  and  sent  to  her,  with  Encomiums  on  her 
Virtue.  —  She  was,  when  on  the  Stage,  diurn- 
ally  Charitable,  going  often  into  Clare-Market, 
and  giving  Money  to  the  poor  unemploy'd  Bas- 
ket-women, insomuch  that  she  could  not  pass 
that  Neighbourhood  without  the  thankful  Ac- 
clamations of  People  of  all  Degrees;  so  that,  if 
any  Person  had  affronted  her,  they  would  have 
been  in  Danger  of  being  kill'd  directly;  and  yet 

82 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

this  good  Woman  was  an  Actress. — She  has  been 
off  the  Stage  these  26  Years  or  more,  but  was 
alive  July  20,  1747;  for  I  saw  her  in  the  Strand, 
London,  then  —  with  the  Remains  of  charming 
Bracegirdle. 

Mr.  SANDFORD,  although  not  usually 
deem'd  an  Actor  of  the  first  Rank,  yet  the  Char- 
acters allotted  him  were  such,  that  none  besides, 
then,  or  since,  ever  topp'd,  for  his  Figure,  which 
was  diminutive  and  mean,  (being  Round- 
shoulder'd,  Meagre-fac'd,  Spindle-shank'd, 
Splay-footed,  with  a  sour  Countenance,  and  long 
lean  Arms)  render'd  him  a  proper  Person  to 
discharge  lago,  Foresight,  and  Mahgnij,  in  the 
VILLAIN.  But  he  fail'd  in  succeeding  in  a 
fine  Description  of  a  triumphant  Cavalcade,  in 
Alonzo,  in  the  MOURNING  BRIDE,  because 
his  Figure  was  despicable,  (although  his  En- 
ergy was,  by  his  Voice,  and  Action,  enforc'd 

with  great  Soundness  of  Art,  and  Justice:) 

This  Person  acted  strongly  with  his  Face, — 
and  (as  King  Charles  said)  was  the  best  Vil- 
lain in  the  World. He  proceeded  from  the 

Sandfords  of  Sandford,  that  lies  between  IFhit- 

church  and  Newport,  in  Shropshire.  He 

would  not  be  concern'd  with  Mr.  Betterton, 
Mrs.  Barry,  &c,  as  a  Sharer  in  the  Revolt  from 

83 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

Drury-Lane  to  Lincoln' s-Inn-Fields ;  but  said, 
This  is  my  Agreement. —  To  Samuel  Sandford, 

Gentleman,  Threescore  Shillings  a  Week. 

Pho!  pho!  said  Mr.  Betterton,  Three  Pounds  a 

Week. No,  no,  said  Sandford;  To  Samuel 

Sandford,  Gentleman,   Threescore    Shillings    a 

Week. For  which    Cave    Underhill,    who 

was  a  1-4  Sharer,  would  often  jeer  Sandford; 

saying,  Samuel  Sandford,  Gent,  my  Man. 

Go,  you  sot,  said  Sandford. To  w^hich  t'other 

ever  replied,  Samuel  Sandford,  my  Man  Sam- 
uel. 

CAFE  UNDERHILL,  and  Mr.  DOG- 
GET,  will  be  the  next  treated  of. 

CAFE  UNDERHILL,  though  not  the  best 
Actor  in  the  Course  of  Precedency,  was  more 
admired  by  the  Actors  than  the  Audience  — 
there  being   no  Rivals  then  in  his  dry,    heavy, 

downright  Way  in  Low  Comedy. His  few 

Parts  were.  The  first  Grave-digger  in  HAM- 
LET,— Sancho  Pancha,  in  the  first  Part  of 
DON  QUIXOT,— N^^  Blunt,  in  the  ROVER, 
—  Jacomo,    in    the    LIBERTINE, — and    the 

Host,  in  the  VILLAIN:  All  which  were 

dry,  heavy  Characters,  except  in  Jacomo;  in 
which,  when  he  aim'd  at  any  Archness,  he  fell 

into    downright    Insignificance. He    was 

84 


AXTHOXY    ASTON 

about  50  Years  of  Age  the  last  End  of  King 
William's  Reign,  about  six  Foot  high,  long  and 
broad-facM,  and  something  more  corpulent  th^n 
this  Author;  his  Face  very  like  the  Homo  Sly- 
vestris,  or  Champanza;  for  his  Nose  was  flat- 
tish  and  short,  and  his  Upper  Lip  very  long  and 
thick,  with  a  wide  Mouth  and  short  Chin,  a 
churlish  Voice,  and  awkward  Action,  (leaping 
often  up  with  both  Legs  at  a  Time,  when  he  con- 
ceived any  Thing  waggish,  and  afterwards  hug- 
ging himself  at  the  Thought.)  He  could 

not  enter  into  any  serious  Character,  much  more 
Tragedy;   and  was  the  most  confin'd  Actor  I 
ever  saw:  And  could  scarce  be  brought  to  speak 
a  short  Latin  Speech  in  DON  QULXOT,  when 
Sancho  is  made  to  say,  Sit  bonus  Populus,  bonus 
ero  Gubernator;  which  he  pronounced  thus: 
Shit  bones  and  babble  arse 
Bones,  and  ears  Goble  Nature. 
He  was  obliged  to  Mr.  Betterton  for  thrusting 
him   into   the   Character   of  Merrynian   in   his 
Wanton      Wife,    or    Amorous      Widow;      bs.'t 
Westheart  Cave  was  too  much  of  a  Dullmr:n. 

His  chief  Achievement   was   in   Lolpoop, 

in  the  'Squire  of  Alsatia;  where  it  was  almost 
impossible  for  him  to  deviate  from  himself:  But 
he  did  great  Injustice  to  Sir  Sampson  Legend 
in  Lore  for  Lore,  unlcfs  it  had  been  true,  that 

85 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

the  Knight  had  been  bred  a  Hog-driver.  

In  short,  Underhill  was  far  from  being  a  good 
Actor  —  as  appear'd  by  the  late  Ben.  Johnson's 
assuming  his  Parts  of  Jacomo  —  the  Grave-dig- 
ger in  Hamlet  —  and  Judge  Grypus  in  Amphy- 

trion.  I  know,  Mr.  Underhill  was  much 

cry'd  up  in  his  Time;  but  I  am  so  stupid  as  not 
to  know  why. 

Mr.  DOGGET,  indeed,  cannot  reasonably 
be  so  censur'd;  for,  whoever  decry'd  him,  must 
inevitably  have  laugh'd  much,  whenever  he  saw 
him  act. 

Mr.  Dogget  was  little  regarded,  'till  he 
chopped  on  the  Character  of  Solon  in  the  Mar- 
riage-Hater Match'd;  and  from  that  he  vege- 
tated fast  in  the  Parts  of  Fondlewife  in  the  Old 
Batchelor — Cohgniv,  in  the  Villain — Hob,  in  the 
Country  Wake —  and  Ben  the  Sailor,  in  Love 
for  Love. But,  on  a  Time,  he  suffer'd  him- 
self to  be  expos'd,  by  attempting  the  serious 
Character  of  Phorbas  in  Oedipus,  than  which 
nothing  cou'd  be  more  ridiculous  —  for  when 
he  came  to  these  Words  —  (But,  Oh!  I  wish 
Phorbas  had  perished  in  that  very  Moment)  — 
the  Audience  conceiv'd  it  was  spoke  like  Hob 

in  his  Dying-Speech. They  burst  out  into 

86 


AXTHOXY    ASTOX 

a  loud  Laughter;  which  sunk  Tom  Dogget's 
Progress  in  Tragedy  from  that  Time. 

Faelix  quern  faciunt  aliena  pericula  cautum.- 

But  our  present  LAUREAT  had  a  better  Opin- 
ion of  himself; —  for,  in  a  few  Nights  after- 
wards, COLLEY,  at  the  Old  Theatre,  at- 
tempted the  same  Character;  but  was  hiss'd,  his 

Voice    sounding   like    Lord   Foppington.  

Ne  Sutor  ultra  Crepidam. 

Mr.  Dogget  was  a  little,  lively,  spract  Man, 
about  the  stature  of  Mr.  L ,  Sen.  Book- 
seller in  B — //,  but  better  built.  His  Be- 
haviour modest,  chearful,  and  complaisant. 

He  sung  in   Company  very  agreeably,   and   in 

Public    very   comically.   He    danc'd    the 

Cheshire  Round  full  as  well  as  the  fam'd  Capt. 
George,  but  with  much  more  Nature  and  Nim- 

bleness. •  I  have  had   the   Pleasure    of    his 

Conversation  for  one  Year,  when  I  travell'd 
with  him  in  his  strolling  Company,  and  found 
him  a  Man  of  very  good  Sense,  but  illeterate; 
for  he  wrote  me  Word  thus  —  Sir,  I  ivill  give 

you  a  hole  instead  of  (ivhole)  Share.  He 

dress'd  neat,  and  something  fine  —  in  a  plain 
Cloth  Coat,  and  a  brocaded  Waistcoat:  —  But 
he  is  so  recent,  having  been  so  often  at  Bath, — 

satis  est. He  gave  his  Yearly  Water-Badge, 

87 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

out  of  a  warm  Principle,  (being  a  staunch  Rev- 
olution-Whig.)    I   cannot   part  with   this 

Non-pareil,  without  saying,  that  he  was  the 
most  faithful,  pleasant  Actor  that  ever  was  — 
for  he  never  deceiv'd  his  Audience  —  because, 
while  they  gaz'd  at  him,  he  was  working  up  the 
Joke,  which  broke  out  suddenly  in  involuntary 

Acclamations  and  Laughter.  Whereas  our 

modern  Actors  are  fumbling  the  dull  Minutes, 
keeping  the  gaping  Pit  in  Suspense  of  some- 
thing delightful  a  coming,  Et  parturiunt 

Montes,  nascitur  ridiculus  Mus. 

He  was  the  best  Face-player  and  Gesticu- 
lator,  and  a  thorough  Master  of  the  several  Dia- 
lects, except  the  Scots,  (for  he  never  was  in 
Scotland)  but  was,  for  all  that,  a  most  excellent 
Sawney.  Whoever  would  see  him  pictur'd,  may 
view  his  Picture,  in  the  Character  of  Sawney, 
at  the  Duke's-Head  in  Lynn-Regis,  in  Norfolk. 

While  I  travell'd  with  him,  each  Sharer 

kept  his  Horse,  and  was  every  where  respected 
as  a  Gentleman. 

Jack  Verbruggen,  in  Point  of  Merit,  will 
salute  you  next. 

JACK  VERBRUGGEN,  that  rough  Dia- 
mond, shone  more  bright  than  all  the  artful,  pol- 
ish'd  Brilliants  that  ever  sparkled  on  our  Stage. 

88 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

{JACK  bore  the  BELL  aivay)  —  He  had 

the  Words  perfect  at  one  View,  and  Nature  di- 
rected 'em  into  Voice  and  Action,  in  which  last 
he  was  always  pleasing  —  his  Person  being  tall, 
well-built  and  clean;  only  he  was  a  little  In- 
kneed,  which  gave  him  a  shambling  Gate,  which 

was  a  Carelessness,  and  became  him.  His 

chief  Parts  were  Bajazet,  Oroonoko,  Edgar  in 
King  Lear,  Wilmore  in  the  Rover,  and  Cassius, 
when   Mr.   Betterton  playM  Brutus  with   him. 

Then  you  might  behold  the  grand  Con- 
test, viz.  whether  Nature  or  Art  excell'd  —  Fer- 
bruggen  wild  and  untaught,  or  Betterton  in  the 

Trammels  of  Instruction.  In    Edgar,   in 

King  Lear,  Jack  shew'd  his  Judgment  most;  for 
his  madness  was  unlimited:  Whereas  he  sensi- 
bly felt  a  Tenderness  for  Cordelia,  in  these 
Words,   (speaking  to  her)  —  As  you  did  once 

know  Edgar! And  you  may  best  conceive 

his    manly,    wild    Starts,    by    these    Words     in 

Oroonoko,  IJa!  thou  hast  rousd  the  Lyon 

his  Den;  he  stalks  abroad,  and  the  wild  Forest 

trembles  at  his  Roar: Which  was  spoke  like 

a  Lyon,  by  Oroonoko,  and  Jack  Ferhruggen; 
for  Nature  was  so  predominant,  that  his  second 
Thoughts  never  altcr'd  his  prime  Performance. 

The  late    Marquess  of    JIallifax    order'd 

Oroonoko  to  be  taken  from  George  Poivel,  say- 

89 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

ing  to  Mr.  Southern,  the  Author,  —  That  Jack 
was  the  unpolish'd  Hero,  and  wou'd  do  it  best. 

In  the  Rover  (Wilmore)  never  were  more 

beautiful  Scenes  than  between  him,  and  Mrs. 
Bracegirdle  in  the  Character  of  Helena;  for, 
what  with  Verbruggen's  untaught  Airs,  and  her 
smiling  Repartees,  the  Audience  were  afraid 
they  were  going  off  the  Stage  every  Moment. 
Verbruggen  was  Nature,  without  Extrava- 
gance —  Freedom,  without    Licentiousness  — 

and  vociferous,  without  bellowing. He  was 

most  indulgently  soft,  when  he  says  to  Imoinda, 
— I  cannot,  as  I  wou'd,  bestow  thee ;  and  as  I 
ought,  I  dare  not. Yet,  with  all  these  Per- 
fections, Jack  did,  and  said,  more  silly  Things 
than  all  the  Actors  besides;  for  he  was  drawn 
in  at  the  common  Cheat  of  Pricking  at  the 
Girdle,  Cups  and  Balls,  &c.  and  told  his  Wife 
one  Day  that  he  had  found  out  a  Way  to  raise  a 

great  Benefit. /  hope,  said  she,  you  II  have 

your  Bills  printed  in  Gold  Letters. No,  no, 

better     than     that,     said   he;  for  I'll  have  the 

King's- Arms  all  in  Gold  Letters.  As  Mr. 

Verbruggen  had  Nature  for  his  Directress  in 
Acting,  so  had  a  known  singer.  Jemmy  Bowen, 

the  same  in  Music: He,  when  practising  a 

Song  set  by  Mr.  PURCELL,  some  of  the 
Music  told  him  to  grace  and  run  a  Division  in 

90 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

such  a  Place,  O  let  him  alone,  said  Mr.  Purcell; 
he  will  grace  it  more  naturally  than  you,  or  I, 
can  teach  him.  In  short,  an  Actor,  like  a 

Poet, 

Nascitur,  non  fit. 

And  this  Author  prizes  himself  on  that  Attempt, 
as  he  hath  had  the  Judgment  of  all  the  best 
Critics  in  the  Character  of  Fondle-ivife  in  the 
Old  Batchelor.  —  //  you  wou'd  see  Nature,  say 
they  see  Tony  Aston  —  //  Art,  Colley  Cibber; 
—  and,  indeed,  I  have  shed  mock  Tears  in  that 
Part  often  involuntarily. 

Mrs.  FERBRUGGEN  claims  a  Place  next. 
She  was  all  Art,  and  her  Acting  all  acquir'd, 
but  dress'd  so  nice,  it  look'd  like  Nature.  There 
was  not  a  Look,  a  Motion,  but  w^hat  were  all 
design'd;  and  these  at  the  same  Word,  Period, 
Occasion,  Incident,  were  every  Night,  in  the 
same  Character,  alike;  and  yet  all  sat  charm- 
ingly easy  on  her. Her  Face,  Motion,  &c. 

chang'd  at  once:  But  the  greatest,  and  usual, 
Position  was  Laughing,  Flirting  her  Fan,  and 
je  ne  scay  quois,  —  with  a  kind  of  affected  Twit- 
ter.    She  was  very  loath  to  accept  of  the 

Part  of  JVeldon  in  Oroonoko,  and  that  with  just 
Reason,  as  being  oblif^cd  to  put  on  Men's 
Cloaths  —  having  thick  Legs  and  Thighs,  cor- 

91 


ANTHONY   ASTON 

pulent  and  large  Posteriours;  but  yet  the 

Town  (that  respected  her)  compounded,  and 
receiv'd  her  with  Applause;  for  she  was  the 
most  pleasant  Creature  that  ever  appear'd: 
Adding  to  these,  that  she  was  a  fine,  fair 
Woman,  plump,  full-featur'd;  her  Face  of  a 
fine,  smooth  Ovnl,  full  of  beautiful,  well-dis- 
pos'd  Moles  on  it,  and  on  her  Neck  and  Breast. 
Whatever  she  did  was  not  to  be  call'd  Act- 
ing; no,  no,  it  was  what  she  represented:  She 
was  neither  more  nor  less,  and  was  the  most  easy 
Actress  in  the  World.  The  late  Mrs.  OLD- 
FIELD  borrow'd  something  of  her  Manner  in 

free  Comedy;  as  for  Tragedy,  Mrs.  Ver- 

bruggen  never  attempted  it.  Melanthe  was  her 
Master-piece;  and  the  Part  of  Hillaria  in  Tun- 
bridge-Walks  cou'd  not  be  said  to  be  Acted  by 

any  one  but  her.  Her  Maiden-Name  was 

Percival;  and  she  was  the  Widow  of  Mr. 
Mountford,  (who  was  kill'd  by  Lord  Mohun) 

when   Mr.   Verbruggen  married  her.  She 

was  the  best  Conversation  possible;  never  cap- 
tious, or  displeas'd  at  any  Thing  but  what  was 
gross  or  indecent;  for  she  was  cautious,  lest  fiery 
Jack  shou'd  so  resent  it  as  to  breed  a  Quarrel; 
—  for  he  wou'd  often  say,  —  Dammee!  tho'  I 
don't  much  value  my  Wife,  yet  no  Body  shall 
affront  her,  by  G — d ;  and  his  Sword  was  drawn 

92 


AXTHOXY    ASTOX 

on  the  least  Occasion,  which  was  much  in  Fash- 
ion at  the  latter  End  of  King  William's  Reign; 
—  at  which  Time  I  came  on  the  Stage,  when 
Mr.  Dogget  left  it;  and  then  the  facetious  Joe 
Haines  was  declining  in  Years  and  Reputation, 
tho'  a  good  Actor  and  Poet,  his  Prologues  ex- 
ceeding all  ever  wrote.  {Vide  Love  and  a 

Bottle.] 

JOE  HAINES  is  more  remarkable  for  the 
witty,  tho'  wicked,  pranks  he  play'd,  and  for  his 

Prologues  and  Epilogues,  than  for  Acting. 

He  was,  at  first,   a   Dancer. After  he  had 

made  his  Tour  of  France,  he  narrowly  escap'd 
being  seiz'd,  and  sent  to  the  Bastile,  for  person- 
ating an  English  Peer,  and  running  3000  Livres 
in  Debt  in  Paris;  but,  happily  landing  at  Dover, 
he  went  to  London, where, in  Bartholomew-Fair, 
he  set  up  a  Droll-Booth,  and  acted  a  new  Droll, 
call'd.  The  IVhore  of  Babylon,  the  Devil,  and 
the  Pope.  This  was  in  the  first  Year  of  King 
James  II.  when  Joe  was  sent  for,  and  roundly 
admonish'd,  by  Judge  Pollixsen,  for  it.  Joe 
reply'd.  That  he  did  it  in  Respect  of  his  IIoli- 
nesi;  for,  whereas  many  ignorant  People  be- 
lieved the  Pope  to  he  a  Beast,  he  shew'd  him  to 
he  a  fine,  comely  old  Gentleman,  as  he  was;  not 
with  Seven  Heads,  and  Ten  Horns  as  the  Scotch 
Parsons    describe    him.      However,    this    AfTair 

93 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

spoil'd  Joe's  expiring  Credit ;  for,  next  Morning, 
a  Couple  of  Bailiffs  seiz'd  him  in  an  Action  of 
20/.  as  the  Bishop  of  Ely  was  passing  by  in  his 
Coach. Quoth  Joe  to  the  BailifYs,  —  Gen- 
tlemen, here's  my  Cousin,  the  Bishop  of  Ely, 
going  into  his  House;  let  me  but  speak  to  him, 
and  he'll  pay  the  Debt  and  Charges.  The  Bailiffs 
thought  they  might  venture  that,  as  they  were 
within  three  or  four  Yards  of  him.  So,  up  goes 
Joe  to  the  Coach,  pulling  off  his  Hat,  and  got 
close  to  it.  The  Bishop  order'd  the  Coach  to 
stop,  whilst  Joe  (close  to  his  Ear)  said  softly, 
My  Lord,  here  are  two  poor  Men,  who  have 
such  great  Scruples  of  Conscience,  that,  I  fear, 

they'll  hang  themselves.  Very  well,  said 

the  Bishop.  So,  calling  to  the  Bailiffs,  he  said, 
You  two  Men,  come  to  me  To-morrow  Morn- 
ing, and  I'll  satisfy  you.  The  Men  bow'd,  and 
went  away.  Joe  (hugging  himself  with  his  fal- 
lacious Device)  went  also  his  Way.  In  the 
Morning,  the  Bailiffs  (expecting  the  Debt  and 
Charges)  repair'd  to  the  Bishop's;  where  being 
introduced,  —  Well,  said  the  Bishop,  what  are 

your   Scruples    of    Conscience^  Scruples/ 

(said  the  Bailiffs)  we  have  no  Scruples:  We 
are  Bailiffs,  my  Lord,  who.  Yesterday,  arrested 
your  cousin,  Joe  Haines,  for  20/.  Your  Lord- 
ship promised  to  satisfy  us  to-day,  and  we  hope 

94 


AXTHONY    ASTON 

your  Lordship  uill  be  as  good  as  your  Word. 

The  Bishop,  reflecting   that   his    Honour 

and  Name  would  be  expos'd.   (it  he  complied 

not)  paid   the   Debt  and  Charges.  There 

were  two  Parts  of  Plays  (Nol  Bluff  in  the  Old 
Baichelor,   and  Roger   in  Msop)    which   none 

ever  touch'd  but  Joe  Haines. 1  own,  I  have 

copied  him  in  Roger,  as  I  did  Mr.  Dogget  in 

Fondleiiife.  But,   now,   for  another  story 

of  him. 

In  the  long  Vacation,  when  Harlots,  Poets, 
and  Players,  are  all  poor,  —  Joe  walking  in 
Cross-Street  by  JJatton-Gardens,  sees  a  fine 
Venison-Pasty  come  out  of  Glassop's  a  Pasty- 
Cook's  Shop,  which  a  Boy  carried  to  a  Gentle- 
man's House  thereby  Joe  watch'd  it;  and 

seeing  a  Gentleman  knock  at  the  Door,  he  goes 
to  the  Door,  and  ask'd  him  if  he  had  knock'd  at 
it:  Yes,  said  the  Gentleman;  the  Door  is  open'd. 

—  In  goes  the  Gentleman,  and  Joe  after  him,  to 
the  Dining-Room.  —  Chairs  were  set  and  all 
ready  for  the  Pasty.  The  Master  of  the  House 
took  Joe  for  the  Gentleman's  Friend,  whom  he 
had   invited   to   Dinner;  which  being  over  the 

Gentleman   departed.     Jrjc  sat  still.  Says 

the  Master  of  the  House  to  Joe,  Sir,  I  thought 

you   liould  have  gone  with  your  Friend/  

My  Fnend.  said  Joe:  nlns!  I  never  saw  him  he- 

95 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

fore  in  my  Life. No,  Sir,  replied  the  other: 

Pray,  Sir,  then  how  came  you  to  Dinner  here? 

Sir,  said  Joe,  I  saw  a  Venison-Pasty  carried 

in  here;  and,  by  this  Means,  have  din'd  very 
heartily  of  it.    My  Name  is  Joe  Haines,   (said 

he)    I    belong    to    the    Theatre.  Oh,    Mr. 

Haines,  (continued  the  Gentleman)  you  are 
very  welcome;  you  are  a  Man  of  Wit;  Come, 
bring  t'other  Bottle;  which  being  finish'd,  Joe, 
with  good  Manners,  departed,  and  purposely 
left  his  Cane  behind  him,  which  he  design'd  to 
be  an  Introduction  to  another  Dinner  there: 
For,  next  Day,  when  they  were  gone  to  Dinner, 
Joe  knock'd  briskly  at  the  Door,  to  call  for  his 
Cane,  when  the  Gentleman  of  the  House  was 
telling  a  Friend  of  his  the  Trick  he  play'd  the 

Day  before.  Pray  call  Mr.  Haines  in.  — 

So,  Mr.  Haines,  said  he ;  sit  down  and  partake  of 

another  Dinner.  To   tell  you    the   Truth, 

said  Joe,  I  left  my  Cane  Yesterday  on  purpose: 

At  which  they  all  laugh'd. Now  Joe,  (altho' 

while  greedily  eating)  was  very  attentive  to  a 
Discourse  of  Humanity  begun,  and  continued, 
by  the  Stranger  Gentleman;  wherein  he  ad- 
vanced, that  every  Man's  Duty  was  to  assist  an- 
other, whether  with  Advice,  Money,  Cloaths, 
Food,  or  whatever  else.  This  sort  of  Principle 
suited  Joe's  End,  as  by  the  Sequel  will  appear. 

96 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

The  Company  broke  up,  and  Joe,  and  the  Gen- 
tleman, walk'd  away,  (Joe  sighing  as  he  went 
along.)     The  Gentleman  said  to  him.  What  do 

you  sigh  for? Dear  Sir,  (quoth  Joe)  I  fear 

my  Landlord  will,  this  Day,  seize  my  Goods  for 

only  a  Quarter  s  Rent,  due  last  Week. How 

much  is  the  Money?  said  the  Gentleman.  

Fifty  Shillings,  said  Joe,  and  the  Patentees  owe 
me  Ten  Pounds,  which  will  be  paid  next  Week. 

Come,  said  the  Gentleman,  I'll  lend  thee 

Fifty  Shillings  on  your  Note,  to  pay  me  faith- 
fully in  three  Weeks.    Which  Joe,  with  many 

Promises   and    Imprecations,   sign'd.   But 

Joe,  thereafter,  had  his  Eyes  looking  out  before 
him;  and,  whenever  he  saw  the  Gentleman, 
would  carefully  avoid  him;  which  the  Gentle- 
man one  Day  perceiv'd,  and  going  a-cross 
Smith  field,  met  Joe  full  in  the  Face,  and,  in  the 
Middle  of  the  Rounds,  stopp'd  him.  Taking 
him  by  the  Collar,  Sirrah,  said  he,  pray  pay  me 
now,  you  impudent,  cheating  Dog,  or  I'll  beat 

you    into    a   Jelly.  Joe    fell    down    on    his 

Knees,  making  a  dismal  Outcry,  which  drew  a 
Mob  about  them,  who  cnquir'd  into  the  Occa- 
sion, which  was  told  them;  and  they,  upon  hear- 
ing  it,  said   to   the  Gentleman,    That  the  poor 

Man    could  not   pay   it,   if  he  had  it   not.  

Well,  said   he,  let  him  kneel  down,  and  eat  up 

97 


ANTHONY    ASTON 

that  thin  Sirreverence,  and  I'll  forgive  him,  and 

give  up  his  Note. Joe  promis'd  he  would, 

and  presently  eat  it  all  up,  smearing  his  Lips  and 
Nose  with  the  human  Conserve.  The  Gentle- 
man gave  him  his  Note;  when  Joe  ran  and  em- 
brac'd  him,  kissing  him,  and  bedaubing  his 
Face;  and  setting  the  Mob  a  hollowing. 

The  Second  Part  of  their  Lives,  ivith  the 
Continuance  of  JOE  HAINES'S   Pranks,   the 

Author  hopes  a  fresh  Advance  for.  In  the 

Interim,  he  thanks  his  Friends. 

FINIS. 


98 


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